


Letters

by TheSkyeIsFalling



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-01-15 23:37:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 24,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21261494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSkyeIsFalling/pseuds/TheSkyeIsFalling
Summary: A year long English assignment may be the start of a wonderful friendship, that is if Lance can figure out who his partner is.





	1. September

**Author's Note:**

> This took me all day to write, hopefully the rest don't take as long. This is another random idea I got when trying to sleep.

Lance had been excited all summer long for his Senior year to start. This was the year he was finally able to take the AP Creative Writing course the school offered year long. For as long as he could remember, he'd always loved writing and telling stories.

The teacher, Mrs. Peterson, was a lovely middle-aged woman. Every year she would assign the class with a writing project that would last throughout the course, every year was different, but they were what made her popular amongst the student body.

With how in demand her class was this year, it ended up being split into two periods, first period and last period, which gave Mrs.Peterson the grand idea of combining both for the assignment. She was gonna get the classes to write letters to each other, but there was a catch.

They were to stay anonymous.

At the end of the year, she was going to throw a potluck with the two classes, and they were gonna have to guess who their penpal was. No names, no physical identifiers.

Lance had ended up in the first-period class, so he was tasked with writing the first letter. To say he was nervous was an understatement. This was going to be the start of a friendship, he wanted to start it off right, first impressions were everything.

Normally, he would try to be flirtatious, break the ice and make things fun. But through an anonymous letter, he didn't know if he'd be talking to a guy or a girl, or if they were even in a relationship, he didn't wanna make his penpal uncomfortable.

_ Dear... _

No to serious, not that he wasn't taking this seriously, but it had to feel natural.

_ To Reader... _

No, that felt too impersonal. Lance groaned, dropping his head down onto his desk, first day of school and he already felt like he was behind. They'd been given the rest of class, after introducing themselves, to work on their letter, around him everyone was scribbling away. His page still sat blank in front of him.

_ Hi. _

Okay, that was a start, he could go from there. Should he start with a question? His pencil bounced back and forth in his fingers, taking a sip of his coffee he grimaced, it had gone cold from being left on the corner of his desk.

Great, he was either gonna have to wait till lunch to satisfy his caffeine addiction or suffer through and drink the cold one. With how his brain was functioning currently he decided to chug what was left to get it over with, then quietly put his thermos in his bag. His blue bookbag, it was his favourite colour, and it gave him the perfect idea.

_ Hi, _

_ In the spirit of being anonymous, why don't we refer to each other using nicknames? You can call me Blue... _

~~~~

The benefits of having Creative Writing first period meant he could show up early to read his letter. Mrs.Peterson had set up shoeboxes along the windowsill, each one numbered 1-23, each student getting a number to use as their mailbox.

Lance was the first one to arrive, a half-hour still left till class started. His box, number seven, had a neatly folded sheet of paper inside, his nerves from the day came back but he also had a giddy excited feeling.

Grabbing the letter, he brought over to his seat, pulling out some paper and a pen he got ready to write a response.

_ Blue, _

_ Well, if we're using our favourite colours as aliases, you can call me Red.  _

Whoever this was, Lance already hated them, their handwriting was so smooth and fancy compared to his own chicken scratch. He just had to get somebody with the nicest writing.

_ I actually only took the course cause I need the credit for college, I tend to work more visually so I focus more on art than writing. _

Ah, that explains the handwriting.

~~~~

"Huuuuuunnnkkkk." Lance was laying on his bed, is upper half slowly falling off. In his hands, he was holding all the letters from Red he'd gotten that week, "You don't get it, I can't figure out their gender and they haven't given any clues. The handwriting is way to fancy for it to be a guy, but the way they convey themselves is way too masculine to be a girl."

"Isn't that kinda the point? You're not supposed to figure out who you're writing too." Hunk was sitting in a bean bag in the corner of Lance's room, laptop on his knees doing his homework.

"No," Lance groaned sitting up to give Hunk a glare. "The point IS to figure out who it is. We're supposed to figure it out based on their writing and what little information they do give, and at this rate, I'm never gonna figure it out if I can't even tell if it's a guy or girl."

"What if it's neither?" Hunk shrugged, looking up from his computer. "Maybe they're non-binary or genderfluid or something."

"Fuck, I wasn't even thinking of that." Lance flopped back on the bed throwing the letters in the air as he nearly fell off.

"Okay, well what do you know about them so far?"

"Well, they're artistic but that doesn't really help. Mr.Smyths art class is first period so I asked Allura who in the class was also taking writing cause she's in both. Turns out everybody is, so that didn't narrow it down, and for all I know it could just be a hobby and they're not even taking art."

"Ya, that does make it hard." Hunk put his laptop down to reach out his mechanics textbook. "You also said they're favourite colour is red right? Maybe keep an eye out for anybody who wears it often, people subconsciously carry around things in their favourite colour often. You, for example, your bookbag, thermos, water bottle, even your pencils are blue. Maybe they have a lot of red with or on them."

"Hunk you genius. I just gotta see which art student wears the most red, they mentioned they had a dog, maybe they'd have something related to that with them as well. Like how Pidge has Baebae as their wallpaper for everything." Lance was excited now, he had a plan. He jumped off the bed to pick his letters back up, he was gonna spend all weekend analyzing them, possibly find a clue he'd missed.

"Please don't start harassing other students." Hunk regretted saying anything, he was gonna have to protect the unsuspecting students from the wrath that was Lance. "You have homework you need to be getting done anyways."

~~~~

Well, Hunks plan failed, he'd spent the second week of school watching the art students come and go, nobody wore red more than once. If anything, every single one of them wore black 90% of the time.

Great, his penpal was potentially some emo/hipster artist.

Hunk had told Allura of his plan so she did everything she could to keep him away from the other students. He couldn't get close enough to see any dog photos or fancy handwriting. "It ruins the fun of the assignment." She had tried to reason, didn't mean he was gonna stop. He had all year to find out.

"Lance, if it's bothering you so much, why don't you just ask them what their pronouns are in your let?"

"Because, Pidge, that would be declaring defeat. Plus, who's to say they'd even tell me."

"My question is, if you guys can't give anything about yourself away, what do you talk about?" Allura waved her fork around, lettuce almost flying off.

"We talk about our writing assignments, they actually tend to ask questions, if it wasn't for college they wouldn't be taking the course. Other than that, their dog, we've talked about music a few times, they recommended a band, Missio, the other day and they're actually really good. So we've been talking about the newest album. I recommended they check out Aurora this morning, gonna have to wait till Monday to find out what they think."

The lunch table stayed silent, Lance looked up from his biology textbook he'd been trying to last-minute study. Everyone was giving him a weird, wide-eyed look, "What?"

"You haven't tried flirting with them?" Pidge broke the silence first.

"Why do you sound surprised by that? I have no idea who I'm talking too, of course, I'm not gonna flirt with them. I don't even know their gender let alone their sexuality. I could be talking to a lesbian, or straight dude. What if their aromantic, that would just make them uncomfortable."

"That's...actually sweet of you." She laughed.

"You make it sound like I'm an asshole, thanks Pidge." He threw his arms up in exasperation, he was being bullied by his own friends.

"I still say you should just ask." Allura shrugged as she took another bite of her salad.

"What about you, you're in the afternoon class, what do you guys talk about?"

"We write sappy love letters. I ended up getting Romelle so the anonymity was kinda lost on us, I recognized her handwriting right away."

~~~~

"THEY HAVE AN OLDER BROTHER!" Lance ran up to their usual lunch table, throwing the letter down for all to see. "We have to write a science fiction piece for class so we were talking about it. So yesterday I mentioned I was gonna write about aliens, cause I like space, and guess what, this fucker has an older brother attending the Garrison for astronomy."

"I feel like you already know more about the brother then you do your own penpal," Pidge spoke without look up from her laptop. 

"Your no fun." He snatched his letter back and sat down next to Hunk. "Let me have this."

"That's really cool Lance." Hunk smiled at him.

"Thanks, Hunk, this is why you're my best friend." Lance Launched himself, wrapping his arms around Hunk to hug him.

"So in three weeks, you've learned that they have a dog, no name or breed was given, that they're a visual and artistic person, and they have a science nerd for a brother. If it wasn't for the art thing I'd think you were talking to Pidge." Romelle sat across from him, arm wrapped around Allura who had her nose in a textbook. She was picking apart a pizza with her free hand.

"One: my handwriting is worse than Lances, two: Matt is studying astrophysics, not astronomy, and three: I don't listen to punk music so I wouldn't have recommended Missio." Pidge flung a tomato at Romelle with each point.

"Pidge don't throw your veggies, actually eat them and maybe than you'll grow taller than five feet." Lance patronized.

"I know where you live, I will get you."

"What, by biting my ankles?" Lance went to poke her in the shoulder teasingly but she was faster. "OUCH! She bit me, Hunk she actually bit me." He waved his hand in front of Hunk as if it offended him.

"You're on your own buddy." Hunk scooted away from Lance.

"HUNK! What happened to being my best friend. Betrayal."

~~~~

The fourth week had been less eventful.

He'd ended up getting sick over the weekend so he wasn't at school for the first half. The rest of the week was spent talking about space and song recommendations. There was yet to be any new information about his penpal and it was driving him mad.

"Lance, your spacing out, you're supposed to be working with me on the lab." Allura was writing down the notes they needed to complete their chemistry lab.

"I did it."

"You did what?"

He sighed, picking up his own pencil to do his part. "I asked them what their pronouns were this morning, but now I have to wait till Monday to see if they even answer."

Allura squealed. "Yes, I'm so excited, you have to tell me the second you find out."

"Don't worry I will." He laughed, "Did Mrs.Peterson ever find out that you and Romelle figured out you were each other's penpal?"

"Yeah, we told her the next day and she found it funny but we weren't the only ones to figure it out. James and Ryan got each other as well." She shrugged.

"Wait really? How did that happen? The two of them have been friends since middle school, everyone knows that." 

Allura rolled her eyes under her goggles. "I'm pretty sure the names were picked at random, she didn't intentionally choose who got who." She laughed, "'Bout time you declared defeat though."

"My friends are bullies, lovely."


	2. October

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I forgot to mention in the first chapter, I've never taken an AP or creative course. It's also been like 3 years since I've been in high school. Also, I'm Canadian and we celebrate Thanksgiving in October here.

Lance was ecstatic all Monday morning, he'd gotten more than just his pen-pals pronouns.

The second the lunch bell rang, he all but ran to the table he and his friends sat at. Strangely enough, he was the last to arrive, but it meant he didn't have to wait to share his news. Tossing his bag to the ground, he jumped into his seat, the large grin never leaving his face.

"He."

The others stopped their conversation and looked at him, none of them getting what he was referring too. He could see the second Allura realized and her going wide but Hunk spoke before she could.

"He, who?"

"Lance's pen-pal, oh my god. So they answered?" Allura waved her hands up and down, imitating her smacking the table without actually hitting it in her excitement.

"Oh, I got more than just that." He reached into his bag to pull out the letter to show them a particular line. "He mentioned his brother was coming down this month for his birthday." Pidge raised a brow, not understanding the importance. "Ugh, guys. He just gave away that his birthday is in October." Why is it none of them got as excited as he did.

"You should give him something then, are you allowed to give your pen-pal gifts?" Hunk took the letter to inspect it as he spoke.

"I...I don't know, I don't see why not. If anything I could give it to the teacher to give it to him so it doesn't get stolen from our box."

"You don't even know the day, what if you give it to him early or late? His birthday could be tomorrow for all you know."

Lance deflated, his grin dropping into a scowl, "You really like to ruin the fun of this don't you Pidgeon. It doesn't have to be on time, it's the thought that counts."

Pidge rolled her eyes, turning to look back at her laptop. "I'm not ruining anything, I didn't say it was a bad idea. If your set on giving him a present, what are you gonna give him? All you know is his music taste."

She had a point, the guy could have allergies so he couldn't risk giving him treats, Lance didn't know what art medium Red preferred so he couldn't buy him supplies, clothes were out of the question. He slumped over, head resting on the table, "I have no clue, and I don't wanna ask a bunch of questions and give away that I wanna get him something."

"Then why don't you make it casual, with Thanksgiving and Halloween this month you can ask him what his plans are, what his favourite candy is. He mentioned his birthday, ask him what he normally does every year, or what he has planned this year." Hunk had lost interest in the letter by now, it sitting forgotten in the middle of the table, he started unwrapping what looked like a meatball sub.

"That's a great idea, thanks Hunk." Lance gave him a side hug the best he could without jostling Hunks lunch.

"Romelle and I are going shopping on Friday for Halloween costumes, you should come with us, we can help you find a gift."

"Sounds like a plan." After that Lance pulled out his lunch, they spent the rest of the time talking about their classes.

~~~~

"He's lactose intolerant, doesn't like sweets, and he spends Halloween watching Cryptid movies." Lance huffed, banging his head on the table. He'd had to wait till Tuesday morning to ask his questions so now it was Wednesday and he still didn't know what to get for a gift. "I swear I got the weirdest pen-pal of all."

"Your boyfriends a conspiracy nut, I wanna meet this guy." Pidge laughed.

Lance sat up giving her a glare. "Okay, for one, he's not my boyfriend, and two, make up your mind. One minute you talk about how I don't even know the guy and the next your calling him my boyfriend."

"My mind is made up, you're infatuated with a stranger. He's all you've talked about since day one, I just want you to remember that before you go falling in love with him."

"Pidge," he whined. "I'm not gonna fall in love with him. I don't even know what he looks like."

"Whatever you say." For the first time this semester, Pidge didn't have her laptop out. Instead, she had a copy of Hamlet open while she took notes.

"Hey, look at this way Lance, now you have a better idea of what to look for when we go shopping. Just look for anything Mothman or Alien related and your good." Allura was pulling out her lunch, not looking as Lance sat up to give her a weird look.

"Those are pretty specific cryptids. Allura...do you know who my pen-pal is?" She went quiet, intentionally avoiding his gaze now. "YOU KNOW WHO HE IS." She grimaced at the volume.

"Maybe, I don't know, it's only a guess." 

"I need to get better friends."

~~~~

Allura refused to give away any more information.

The second school was done on Friday the three of them had rushed over to the mall. With Halloween coming up, Lance had thought finding a cryptid related gift would be easy.

It was not.

It was now 7:30pm, they'd been there for four hours, and in all that time he hadn't found a single thing.

"This is ridiculous." Currently, they were in the food court enjoying various fall treats from the food court bakery, Lance's head occupying the table as well.

"Hey, don't give up yet. We still of the bookstore to check out. Maybe you'll find something there, there's gotta be an encyclopedia or some sorta fictional work right?" Romelle had her hand gently patting his head. Her and Allura had successfully found their costumes within their first hour of looking around.

"I guess." He'd originally hoped to find a documentary or a poster, he would've been happy just to find stickers or a Halloween figurine. Video games had crossed his mind, but he didn't know if Red even liked games, and if he did, Lance didn't know what kind of console he had.

"How 'bout you go on ahead while we finish our drinks." Looking up at Allura she gave him a wink. Ah, she wanted some alone time with Romelle.

"Sure, you guys take your time." He stood up and headed towards the store.

The bookstore was located on the other side of the mall, all the displays he passed were decorated and showing off fall merchandise. To be fair, he probably should've waited a bit longer for more Halloween stuff. Thanksgiving was the coming Monday, so everybody was focusing on that rather than Halloween.

He'd even tried both Hot Topic and Spencers to no avail. One of those always had Alien related stuff, the one time he's actively looking for it and they didn't.

Finally making it to the store, he sighed, did he try the Science Fiction section first? Romelle had mentioned encyclopedias, would he find one in the Reference section?

Science Fiction.

Allura and Romelle were taking their time to show up, that or they couldn't find him amongst all the aisles, but he'd been perusing his options for half an hour at this point. He was probably gonna have to give up, maybe he could order something online.

Looking away from the books, about to go find his friends, an interesting box caught his eye. It was a dark blue with teal tentacles and skulls creating an intricate frame.

_ THE H.P. LOVECRAFT COLLECTION. _

Yes, this was perfect. When he'd first learned of Red's love for cryptids he'd searched it up so he could get an idea for his present, Lovecraft had come up quite a lot.

"Lance?"

"I'm over here." He'd finally found the perfect gift.

~~~~

Monday had been Thanksgiving so school was closed, it was now Tuesday morning and Lance couldn't focus. The box set had included six books and cost him well over sixty dollars, Allura had tried to convince him to find something cheaper but he knew it had to be the box set. So, to make sure it stayed safe and got to Red, he'd given the wrapped gift to his teacher to hold onto.

Allura, of course, told him she wouldn't say who got the gift, but she promised to tell him if Red liked it or not. Which meant he now had to wait all day, maybe he should've gotten something else. It was a pretty expensive gift to get someone he doesn't even know.

Great, now he was second-guessing, why did it even matter if Red liked it?

"Lance?" Pidge whispered next to him, their teacher was explaining some complicated math equation on the board. "You ok?"

"Just peachy Pidgeon."

He wasn't, the rest of the day went by in a haze. All-day he worried about the gift, so caught up on whether he should have gotten something cheaper, maybe Red didn't even want anything, that he hadn't realized the day had ended and he was in Hunks car heading home.

Hunk was talking about something in the driver's seat, Lance knew he should be listening but he couldn't, he was too focused on his phone in his hand, waiting for Allura to fill him in on Red.

He screamed when it vibrated, the notification stating a new text from Allura. "It's her, she texted me. Oh my god, what if he hated it? Hunk I can't, pull over, you read it. Aaaah, take it, take it, I can't."

"Lance! Calm down, your gonna give me a heart attack." Hunk was breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down after Lances outburst. "Here, I'll pull into the McDonalds parking but you owe me a coffee for this."

"Deal."

Of course, Hunk Made him run inside to get the coffee first before he read it. "You ready?"

All Lance could do was grip his cup and nod.

"' _ I was right, it was who I thought it was. Pretty sure you broke the poor boy, he nearly started crying in class when he got the gift. You may have just gotten him to fall in love with you.'  _ And here Pidge was worried you were gonna fall for him." Hunk started laughing.

Lance couldn't stop grinning.

~~~~

Ever since he'd given Red the box set, Lovecraft was all they talked about in their letters. Lance had never had any interest in cryptids before, except for maybe aliens, but the way Red talked about them got him into it.

Mothman was Red's favourite, he'd convinced Lance to watch The Mothman Prophecies over the weekend, to his surprise he really enjoyed it. Lance much preferred the aquatic ones like the Loch Ness or the Kraken. Red had passed the teacher his  _ The Call of Cthulhu  _ book to the teacher so Lance could borrow it, which surprised him as it was part of the present he'd given him.

He wanted to return it back to him as soon as he could, so instead of paying attention to class he'd been reading under his desk all day.

"Lance, are you gonna eat, lunch is almost over?" Hunk always worried about them when one of them didn't eat, he was the mom friend in the group.

"I'm fine, don't wanna ruin the book." He didn't even bother looking up.

"You can put the book down for five minutes."

"I can't. I wanna finish it so I can give it back tomorrow and I'm babysitting my cousins tonight so I won't be able to read it later."

"Since when have you been interested in this stuff?" Pidge questioned.

"Last week." He shrugged.

"Wait, so mystery man got you into pop-rock  _ and  _ cryptids?" Her eyes widened as she looked at him.

"Yeah, so? He actually has some good taste." Lance placed the book down, his finger between the pages to hold his spot, so he could look back at her.

"Okay, I know I was joking before, but you really are infatuated. You've been talking for a month and a half and he's already changed you."

"Pidge, I haven't changed I'm still me, I've just broadened my interests." He didn't get what she was talking about.

"You've done more than just broaden them, you've changed them entirely. Your listen to rock music, watching horror movies, you asked to borrow my X-files DVD set over the weekend. I've been trying to get you to watch that since middle school."

Huh, that was a lot more than he realized. Horror movies had always terrified him, but talking about them with Red, the special effects and prosthetics used, made them seem less scary. He actually really enjoyed them and looked forward to bingeing them over the weekends now. "Sorry Pidge, I promise next time you try to get me to watch something I will."

"You're not denying that you're infatuated."

"I just like talking to him, we're just friends. Besides, I have no idea if he's even gay, like I'm gonna let myself fall for a straight boy."

~~~~

He was screwed.

Pidge was right, he was infatuated.

Red had done a Halloween illustration of the Kraken for him, and he loved it. It was Thursday morning, October 31, and he was staring at a detailed watercolour painting of a creature he now loved, despite not knowing about it a month ago, realizing he really did like Red.


	3. November

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had intended to update this fic daily, that didn't happen. I ended up taking the weekend off from writing, and now I'm starting to taking breaks in between my writing and spreading out the updates, I'm doing this because it puts less stress on me to try and write a bunch in a short amount of time as well as get other things done in the day.

November was off to a rough start.

Lance didn't know what to do, it was the day after Halloween, the day after he realized his feelings, and it scared him. It had nothing to do with Red being a guy, Lance knew he was bi, he'd known for a while now and was proud of who he was. The problem, he still had no idea who Red was.

Grabbing today's letter he sat down and dropped his head against his desk with a groan. The cursive  _ Blue _ written on the back stared at him mockingly. Of course, Pidge was right.

He started second-guessing everything he wrote in his response, everything seemed too fond, too affectionate for a letter to a stranger. It took him longer to write and wasn't as enthusiastic as his usual letters were but he needed the weekend to get himself together. 

The day went by in a haze, he couldn't focus, but unlike before, where it was due to his nervous excitement, it was now caused by anxiety and overthinking. What if Red was straight? What if Red was homophobic or biphobic? What if Red was in a relationship already?

What if it wasn't reciprocated?

Lunch came and went, his friends gave him weird looks for is unusual silence, but none of them voiced their concerns. They all had their bad days, it became a thing that whenever one of them was acting differently nobody would say anything right away. However, if it continued after that first day, they knew it was more than just a  _ bad day  _ and would do everything they could to help.

When he'd gotten home that evening he told his parents he wasn't feeling well and was going to go to bed for the night. Just like his friends nobody questioned it, wishing him well and left him alone.

He ended up spending his entire weekend in bed. Lately, he'd watch horror movies or alien documentaries, but they reminded him of Red, he couldn't sit through them and enjoy them. His old habit of cheesy romance movies just made him sad. All that was left we're comedies, and as much as he didn't care for them, it's what he watched.

~~~~

The following week was better, the comedies fried his brain, making him feel slightly numb, and with midterms coming up; he was too busy studying to care. Red was back to asking for help with his writing, less of their usual small talk. 

But his friends only took his excuses of being tired, and busy for so long. It only took until Friday for them to finally confront him. The second he sat down at the lunch table, everyone went silent and turned to him. He refused to acknowledge them, hoping they'd drop it, he knew he wasn't his usual self but he was figuring it out. 

"Lance." Allura was the one to break the silence.

"Nope, we're not doing this."

"Buddy, we just wanna know what's bothering you." Hunk placed his hand on Lance's shoulder in a reassuring gesture.

"And you can't say you're tired Lance, we know that's not it. That's why we're having this intervention." Pidge sat across from him, nothing on the table in front of her as she gave him her full attention.

"Really an intervention?" He sighed, "I'm fine you guys, you're just overreacting."

"You haven't talked about Red in a week, something is definitely wrong, did you guys have a fight?"

"What, no. Reds good, we're good." They made it hard to not tell them what's wrong. He knew he was gonna spill if this kept going, he couldn't hide things from them.

"Okay, if it not Red what is it? Is it something at home, is another student harassing you?" Allura leaned closer to him as she spoke.

"No. It is Red, but not because of anything bad, it's actually the opposite."

They took a second to process what he meant, of course, Pidge figured it out first. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." With a sigh he smacked his head face down into the table. "I don't know what to do."

"Oh, see the problem know. Lance, your always quick to overthink, things will be fine. If it helps you worry less, I know for a fact he's gay." Allura sat back and started pulling out her lunch as if everything had just been solved.

"What?" Red was gay. He could have a chance. "Allura you need to introduce me, please." He shot up, arms reaching out and grabbing her hands to get her attention back on him. "You have to introduce me, Allura please."

  
  


She shrugged him off, "Nope."

"Why not." He whined. The others were just watching the back and forth.

"That's not the point of the project, neither was falling in love but, it's for you to figure out on your own or wait till the end of the year."

"I'm not  _ in love _ , I may have just developed a romantic attraction to a guy through his letters. I could fall in love and be happy with him if you introduce me, don't you want me to be happy 'Llura?"

She gave him a blank stare as she answered, "Still a no, if you do fall in love this will make for a beautiful meet-cute and I'm not ruining it." Romelle snickered next to her.

"If he gets in a relationship and I miss my chance it's your fault." He started unpacking his forgotten lunch.

"I'll take my chances."  
  


~~~~

The following week was shorter, school being closed on Monday for Remembrance Day, but it was still a busy few days. Labs for bio and chem were due, papers for creative writing and history had to be handed in, physics was full of pop quizzes. All in prep for midterms next week.

Lance felt like the embodiment of death. He couldn't wait for it to be over, the last few weeks before Winter break were always the best.

Allura still refused to tell him who Red was, and he was positive that everybody but him knew who it was at this point. Surprisingly though, none of them continued to tease him, actually, after they found out that he had fallen for Red they dropped it entirely.

Instead of meeting the others at their table, Lance had opted for going to the library instead. He wasn't a genius like Pidge or Hunk, though he had decent grades, but he had to work extra hard and study to get those grades.

Currently, he sat with both his bio and physics textbooks open with two different notebooks in front of him. He always had a short attention span, especially when it came to studying, but he learned that whenever his mind started to wander away from the subject, he'd switch to the other one.

However, just cause he had a study method that worked for him, doesn't mean he didn't still struggle. He couldn't get past one of the thermal dynamic questions. It was beginning to make things frustrating and harder to focus on his biology work.

He sighed, maybe he overdid it, he just needed to walk away and take a break.

Quietly he got up from his chair, leaving his stuff as he was coming right back, and made his way down the hall where the nearest vending machine was located. He wasn't really craving anything, wasn't even hungry or thirsty, but maybe the sugar would help get him going.

When he turned the corner there was another student at the vending machine. Normally Lance wouldn't have thought anything of it but something about the guy struck him as familiar.

Lance didn't get a chance to say hi before the guy grabbed is drink and went down a different hallway, not even noticing Lance's presence.

Great, now that was gonna occupy his mind.

He grabbed a drink himself and headed back to the library, at this point he might just forego the physics and get his sister Veronica to help him over the weekend.

When he got back, he shoved his physics work back into his bag and switched it out for his history textbook.

~~~~

He had felt like death before but walking out of his last class on Friday, he just wanted to go to bed and sleep for a year. If midterms were this stressful he wasn't looking forward to exams at the end of the semester.

However, he doesn't get to go home quite yet, he was making his way to Hunks car. The group had decided to meet up at Pidge's house after school to hang out and destress.

"I'm sleeping during the drive."

"Lance, it's like a fifteen-minute drive." Hunk sighed as he walked around to the other side. He drove his Mom's old Toyota from the '90s, the two of them had worked on it together as it wasn't functioning before, now though, Lance swore it ran better than his Dad's new car.

"It's called a power nap. I'm currently outta power and in need of a nap." He slumped into the seat, adjusting it to lean further back than usual, to prove his point.

"Whatever but I'm leaving you in the car if you fall asleep." Hunk buckled in and started the engine, normally Pidge would be in the back (or the front when she was being a brat) but she had decided to drive with Allura and Romelle.

True to his word, Hunk left him in the car.

He ended up passing out immediately and woke up an hour later to a freezing car. The drive hadn't been long so the car hadn't fully warmed up, so it didn't take long for the cold November air to seep in. Pidge had laughed when he walked into the house shivering but was kind enough to make him a cup of coffee and give him a blanket.

They started off the evening with a few rounds of Mario Kart, Lance was always so close coming in third but it was always Pidge or Hunk that won. After that Lance had convinced them to play Voltron: Legendary Defenders, he always picked the blue paladin as his character because he was better at shooting.

When Pidge's Dad came in with pizza they put the controllers down and crowded around the coffee table.

"Anything new with Red, you've still been quiet about him this week?" Allura had a look of innocence as she glanced at him.

"Your the one who knows him in person, why don't you tell me." He shrugged, shoving a slice into his mouth.

"Oooooooh, someones still salty," Pidge laughed.

"Actually I am kinda curious, I feel like he's part of this group already so it's weird not hearing anything new." Hunk started handing out glasses of coke as he spoke.

"Well he got his creative piece he did on aliens back and got a 90%, he also got his midterm art piece back and got 100%."

"He got 100%? Ugh I'm so jealous of his skills, he definitely deserved the mark, his piece was amazing, but I spent forever on mine and got an 80%." Allura flopped back dramatically. Allura was very artistic and good at it, but her skills her in fashion not painting.

"So far I've only seen the Kraken piece he did for Halloween cause  _ somebody  _ won't tell me who he is so I can see his art IRL." He gave Allura the stink eye as he spoke. "Other than that nothing much. He's been busy with homework and studying, his brother got him The Sinking City game for his birthday."

"I thought you guys came over to destress from school, no school talk,"

Pidge groaned.

Lance turned to her confused, "We did, we're just talking about Red."

"Ya and Red is your pen-pal partner for a school assignment, aka he is school-related."

That was right, Lance had forgotten that Red was just an assignment partner. Like he knew it was an assignment, it was way Allura would never tell him who Red was, but the way Pidge worded it really brought out the fact that Red only got him as his partner by chance. To Red, Lance may just be that, a partner for a project.

Goddammit.

With midterms over he wasn't gonna be feeling numb and dead inside, he was gonna have to deal with his feelings for Red again.

~~~~

The last week of November was good.

Lance's whole family had gone to see the Christmas parade on Sunday, it had been a family tradition for as long as he knew and it was yet to be broken. Veronica even brought her girlfriend Axca this year. He'd also found out that Red had gone with his mother, though that didn't really help him, over half the school went or was in it.

Another thing he had learned though, was that Red had a stepdad, the brother he had mentioned before was actually his step-brother. That also didn't help know down who Red was though, but it was information that made Lance happy. It was a peak at Red's personal life.

Of course, Lance only found it fair and had told Red that he was the youngest of five kids, and had a niece and nephew. Other than family they talked about Christmas, apparently, Red's favourite Christmas movie was The Nightmare Before Christmas. Which didn't surprise him.

There were only three weeks of school left before the break, what was he supposed to do then? He'd have three weeks of no letters. Would Red even wanna talk to him during the break?

He couldn't give Red is actual address, that could give them away, plus his siblings were nosy and could read the letters. What if they sent emails? They could totally create new accounts for this so it would continue to stay anonymous, he just had to ask Red. 

And of course, he asked it on a Friday morning, so he'd have to wait all weekend for an answer.


	4. December

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this was meant to be finished forever ago. This is the longest chapter so far for this fic.  
If it has From: and To: it's an email, if it only has the From: its a message.

Turns out, Red was really into the email idea. He had made an email address during class Friday so he could write it in his letter. Lance was so happy, this also meant that they could talk over the weekend now.

Lance pulled out his phone and started creating a new account. He was still gonna respond to the letter but he was too excited and wanted to send the first email.

From: iamBlue@gmail.com

To:iamRed@gmail.com

Morning Red.

Now to either wait for tomorrow's letter or get an email. He then put his phone on silent and back into his pocket for class, but vibrate was still on and he only had to wait a few minutes for a response.

From:iamRed@gmail.com

To:iamBlue@gmail.com

I see you got my letter.

Lance spent the rest of the day with a giant grin on his face and emailing Red under the table just out of sight of his teachers.

~~~~

By Friday that week him and Red we're talking 24/7 via email. Since they know longer used the letters to communicate, but still wanted to keep them going, they started writing short stories and poems for each other.

"Ok, I have to ask, what is so interesting that you've been staring at your phone all week?" Pidged peaked up at him over her laptop.

"Right, I never told you guys, sorry. I've been talking to Red."

Allura perked up and whipped around to face him, completely cutting off what Romelle had been saying. "You got his phone number?"

"What, no. We created anonymous email accounts, and have been using that."

"Awe, I thought you'd finally swapped numbers, emails cute too though." Her shoulders dropped.

He laughed, "Eventually, hopefully."

"What did he say?" Hunk scooted closer.

From:iamRed@gmail.com

To:iamBlue@gmail.com

This is Kosmo

image.jpg

"He sent a photo of Kosmo, oh my god his dog is adorable, he has a husky." He opened the photo and started passing the phone around for everyone to see.

The photo showed a large black and white husky wearing a red collar curled up on a bed. It was Red's room, he could tell from the bright red comforter and the band posters tapped next to sketches on the wall in the background. He could also see the corner of a rainbow flag off to the left.

From:iamBluegmail.com

To:iamRed@gmail.com

Kosmo is so adorable, I wanna meet him. How old is he?

Lance loved animals but currently didn't have any pets, he was definitely gonna get Red to let him meet his dog once they met in person.

~~~~

Sunday night there was a massive snowstorm that closed school on Monday.

Normally he'd take the chance to sleep in and relax, but since the emails started, he had learned that Red was a morning person. So instead he got up early so they could talk.

Luckily Gmail had a direct messaging capability so they didn't have to wait forever for the emails to go back and forth. They tended to only use it on the weekends though when they were both online.

Despite school being closed, most businesses were still open so the rest of Lance's family was out at work. Meaning he had the house all to himself.

He sent a 'good morning' message but it seemed Red wasn't quite up yet so went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Weirdly enough, as long as he had his morning coffee, his body was adjusting to the constant early morning quite well, he'd surprised his family over the weekend by being up before 10am.

Currently, the kitchen clock read 8:24am. Everyone either worked at 8 or 8:30 so they'd already left, but it also meant that there was still fresh coffee on from when they were getting ready.

Just as he was pouring the milk his phone beeped on the counter.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Morning to you too, I thought you said you liked to sleep in, why are you up so early??? _

Oh no, did he tell him the truth?  _ I gave up on sleeping in because I wanted to talk to you as much as possible. _

Yeah, cause that would go over well, and totally wouldn't imply he was into Red. Shit, what was he supposed to say?

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ snowstorms are an exception, I love fresh snow and I have the house to myself. _

That should do it, it wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the truth either.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ ugh not fair, I'm currently stuck out in this cause I have to take Kosmo for a walk and he loves to take forever. I'M FREEZING. _

Lance really wanted to invite him over, he could warm Red up with hot chocolate and they could play video games. He sighed, he really wanted that but he couldn't, he still didn't know who Red was and inviting a stranger over would just be weird.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Can you not put him on a leash in the backyard? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ We can but I'd still have to stand outside with him, dogs a fucking escape artist. If we don't keep an eye on him he somehow gets out, it's like he teleports or something. _

Lance hadn't even met Kosmo yet and he already loved this dog.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ You should try and catch it on video, see how he does it, plus I wanna see. _

Slowly their conversation went from Kosmo, to dogs in general, to their usual topics of music and cryptids. Lance never got around to playing any video games, he spent the day curled up on the couch talking to Red, he didn't even notice when his family came home and only put down his phone long enough to eat supper. He'd been so occupied by his conversation he hadn't even noticed that he hadn't eaten all day until then.

~~~~

Red always complained about writing, he hated essays and would much rather sit and paint all day, but that didn't mean he wasn't good at it. Lance loved the short stories Red wrote for him in their letters.

It was now Friday, the week had been cut short cause of the snowstorm, and next week was the last week before winter break. They had the emails so he wasn't gonna miss out on their conversations during the break, but he enjoyed the stories Red wrote for him too.

Would Red write him stories in their emails too?

He'd slowly gotten the courage to ask his other questions, Reds pronouns and if he'd want to exchange emails, but asking him to write stories just for Lance over the break was a bit more personal. It was intimate.

A person's writing was an expression of their feelings and thoughts, it made people feel vulnerable when sharing it. The fact that Red was even comfortable with him to share this much with him was a blessing.

He didn't wanna make Red uncomfortable by asking for more. Really he'd been the only one asking questions.

Did Red not want to know who he was? Or was he just as nervous about it as Lance was?

It was still first period, he sat staring at the blank page in front of him. He didn't know what to write, couldn't think of anything. Slowly he was starting to panic, if he couldn't think of something this would be the first time one of them wouldn't have responded (outside of the few times one of them was sick, but now they knew when the other was sick and Red would know that Lance had been at school that day).

With the last few minutes of class left, he finally wrote down what had been creeping into his mind and haunting him all morning.

_ Red, _

_ When we meet in person, would you still wanna be friends? _

_ ~~~~ _

Red never mentioned the question in his emails or their messages all weekend. Lance was thankful, he suspected Red had understood his nervousness about it and opted to answer in the letter.

There was a noticeable amount of students missing, some already having left for winter break.

He still had ten minutes before class, that wasn't new though, he always showed up early to have plenty of time to reply to Red. As usual, he walked over to the shoe box with the little number seven, to see a folded page with Blue written in cursive.

With a shaky breath he started opening it up, he didn't even wait to get to his chair.

_ Blue, _

_ I would hope so, even if we end up going to different universities we can always keep up the emails, though we'd probably be texting by then. _

Red really did want to be friends. That thought alone almost made Lance cry, he hadn't even realized he'd been staring at the page with a dopey grin until the warning bell rang and others started filing in.

He may have put the letter away after that, but the grin stayed all day.

~~~~

Friday was only a half-day, everyone, or at least those that attended, left at lunchtime. Lance had made a Christmas card for Red the day before, it seemed Red had the same idea as there had been one for him that morning.

Lance had wanted to get Red a Christmas gift, but before he could even get himself to the mall Red had started spamming him telling him not to even think about it. Red had made it clear that Lance wasn't allowed to buy any more gifts until Red could buy him one.

Which then ended with Red sulking, well, seemed like sulking via email, about the fact that Lance's birthday was in July. Kinda hard to give an anonymous birthday present at school when one's birthday was during the summer holiday.

Lance found the whole thing funny. He had tried to reassure Red that it didn't have to be a birthday present, and if it was he could always give it early and Lance could hold onto it and open it on his birthday.

Red didn't believe that Lance would wait that long, and he wasn't wrong. His reasoning as to why it couldn't be a Christmas present, was cause what he wanted to get Lance was currently out of stock.

Which confused him as to what it could be.

Both Hunk and Allura, the only two in the group to have their own cars, had left for their vacation early so Lance was stuck taking the school bus home today. Luckily it wouldn't be crowded like usual.

He made it onto the bus and sat in the back, carefully put in his headphones. Turning up the volume he listened to a playlist he'd created with all of Red's recommendations.

Since talking to Red his taste really had changed, and he liked it. If it wasn't for him, Lance would've been closed off to a range of music that he never realized he loved. His siblings had even teased him in the beginning when they found him rocking out in his room.

As the bus drove, Lance watched the cars and houses go by the window, he wondered what it would be like when he met Red. He'd given up on getting Allura to tell him by this point.

Actually, with the end of the year coming closer, Lance started to fear meeting him. What if he wasn't all Red thought he was? What if Red went back on his word and didn't wanna be friends after meeting him.

Leaning forward, his forehead pressed against the cold window, he sighed. How was he gonna survive the rest of the year?

His mind continued to create scenarios of Red not wanting to be friends until he got to his stop. His house was only a few minutes' walk after that.

Walking through the door, he turned off his music and put away his winter gear. Tossing his book bag onto the bench by the front door, he walked towards the kitchen while refreshing his email. There was a new one from Red waiting for him.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Hey, my moms making me walk Kosmo then I have to go do last-minute Christmas shopping with her before my brother gets home from uni tonight so I might not get a chance to talk later, which lowkey sucks. First day of winter break and I can't even stay home and relax. I'll email you when I can, if not we'll definitely talk tomorrow. Oh also, I stopped by class before leaving, I really like the homemade card, give yourself some credit next time your arts pretty good. _

And just like that, without even realizing, Red made him feel ten times better. Lance really was in love with this boy.

~~~~

True to his word, Red and Lance spent all weekend talking non-stop. Monday, however, was dreadful.

Don't get him wrong, Lance loved his family and was always happy when everyone got together, but now it meant that he didn't have two minutes to himself to email Red. He just wanted to sneak away for a minute. Of course, every time he did try to sneak off, somebody would grab his attention and would either need his help with something or to tell some long story about what they've been up to. 

Tuesday was Christmas eve, he'd been able to get up before anybody else so he had a few minutes to message Red.

Lance had snuck down to the kitchen when he'd first woken up, he now sat wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, phone in one hand and coffee in the other. It was only 7am, and luckily Red was already up.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Excuse you but Tom Holland is the superior spider-man. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ He's good but he isn't superior, Tobey Maguire is. Tobey was perfect for playing an awkward, nerdy high schooler. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Ok, yes Tobey got the awkward nerdy-ness perfect, but Spider-Man is supposed to be in high school, Spider-man 1 he graduates and it just focuses on his hero abilities versus adulthood. With Tom, for 1, is still in high school and we see him struggle with trying to juggle school, family and his abilities, and 2, he's hot. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ lol, I will agree on the fact that Tom is hot, but when it comes to spider-man Andrew Garfield is pretty hot too. Honestly, if we had to pick a superior spider-man I'd have to go with Miles from spider-verse. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ You got me there, Spider-verse is amazing, they better make a second one. _

Lance was pulled away from his phone by the sound of creaking floorboards, great somebody was up and he was gonna have to socialize. Because of the layout of the house, he wouldn't be able to get up and hide before whoever was up finished coming down the stairs and saw him. Plus he was comfortable so he didn't wanna get up.

Just as he sighed Veronica emerged from the staircase. "You're up early."

"Good morning to you too Ver." He laughed. "I made coffee if you want some."

"You are a life savour." She quietly giggled as she made her way to the pot. "So...let me guess, you're talking to Red?"

"Yeah." He looked at the black screen in front of him as his sister poured her drink, maybe she would have some advice for him. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did." She walked back into the room, mug in hand as she smirked at him.

"Ugh, you know what I mean." Sometimes siblings were annoying.

"Yeah, go ahead." She sat down across from him, placing her coffee on the table to let it cool.

"How did you and Axca meet?"

She looked up at him, eyes widening behind her glasses. "College, we had a class together and ended up working on a project together and that's how we got to know each other. Why, you've never asked before?"

Despite his siblings teasing him about him and Red's early messaging on the weekends, he hadn't actually told them how he felt. He started fidgeting and pulled the blanket tighter around him. "Just wondering. Who asked out who first? How did you know she liked you?"

"This has something to do with Red doesn't it?" He slowly nodded. "Well, I asked her out first, but only because she's a bit awkward around people and probably would've waited forever to do it. I wasn't actually sure if she liked me, once the project was done we started hanging out all the time. It was during one of our study sessions that I caught her staring at me and when she noticed that I'd caught her she turned red, figured that wouldn't have happened if she wasn't into me so I asked her out then and there."

"Why haven't you told us this before, that's so sweet. Wait, so how long were you guys just friends for?"

"Hmm, well the class was first-semester but the project hadn't been assigned until almost the end...I asked her out when we were studying for finals before summer that same year. So I'd say we were friends for about five months."

Nodding his head he started counting the months that have passed in his head. September, one, October, two, November, three, December was almost over, four.

"When we meet in person, I think I'm gonna ask Red out."

"You better tell me how it goes first, I'm rooting for you." She smiled up at him as she took a sip from her mug.

Suddenly, yelling and banging was heard from upstairs, guess he was outta time to talk to Red, the rest of the family was awake. With a sigh he messaged Red telling him he had to go.

On Christmas, he'd ended up waking up at 4am before anybody else. He sent out a quick 'Merry Christmas' email to Red, but that's all he got to do. He was able to sleep for another hour after that before everybody woke up.

~~~~

Boxing day was busy, everyone was getting ready to leave either that night or the next morning. He didn't get to talk to Red all day.

It wasn't till the 27th that he was able to sit down and talk to him again. Finally sitting down, the last family member had just left and it was around noon, pulling out his phone he saw he had a few emails from Red.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Merry Christmas to you _

_ Sent: December 25, 6:00am _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ OMG nobody is waking up, this is so boring hope your morning is going better. _

_ Sent: December 25, 7:37am _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ My brother got me a freaking Wacom tablet, I may or may not spam you with digital art over the rest of winter break. _

_ Sent: December 25, 12:02pm _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ This is so hard to get used too, it's like relearning art all over again lol. _

_ image.jpg attached _

_ Sent: December 26, 1:42pm _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ image.jpg attached _

_ Sent: December 26, 9:21pm _

Lance was in awe, the first image was a sketch of Kosmo, it looked astounding. The next image made him laugh, it was a digital painting of Miles Morales in a mix of Red's style and the movie's.

He saved the image and made it his phones home screen, just as he finished he got a message from Red.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ You're online, how was your Christmas _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ XD, my Christmas was great but very exhausting, I love my family but sometimes the house can feel overcrowded. Also, holy shit, tell your brother thank you for me cause I'm looking forward to your art, it's fucking amazing. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Lol, he says your welcome _

They spent the day talking about their presents and catching up on what they missed over the last two days.

The 28th was a bit different, he may have told his sister that he was going to ask Red out eventually and Allura had even mentioned that he was gay, but he still didn't know if Red was single.

Lance fell face-first into the couch with a groan, his family was back to work and Veronica was with Axca so he had the house to himself again. He couldn't just bring it up out of the blue, that would just be awkward. Huffing, he turned his head out of the pillow and looked back to the tv.

Currently, they had been watching Final Space and talking about the episodes. Pidge had gotten mad at him again for watching another show she'd been trying to get him to watch, all because Red liked it.

His phone vibrating in his hand brought him back to reality, he'd zoned out without even realizing. Red had sent him a new art piece of his, it was a redraw from one of the scenes in the first episode. Lance smiled at his phone.

Before exchanging emails the only time he'd been able to see Red's artwork was when he did the Kraken piece for Halloween, and now he gets to see it almost every day. Of course, he always made sure to spam Red with praise for his work.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ How are you not getting paid for this, your art is amazing? Do you have any social media, I bet you have tons of followers. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ lol, I'm glad you think so. I don't, other than my family and what I need for school your the only other person I've shown my art too. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Wait really? Holy shit, I feel honoured.  _

No, Lance couldn't bring it up yet. He didn't wanna make things awkward with Red. If it doesn't come up there's always Valentine's Day, it wouldn't be weird asking then.

Rolling over he went back to watching the show, Gary and the team just saved Avacato's son from the Lord Commander. Great, he was gonna have to rewind it cause he didn't see what happened.

The 29th and 30th weren't all that exciting. Lance finished Final Space and had convinced Red to watch Legend of Korra. They did get into a discussion over which brother was better, Red liked Mako where Lance liked Bolin.

Though Lance's favourite was Asami, Red had yet to meet her when they had the discussion. Which then led to the discussion of who was better, Korra or Asami. Lance stuck with his answer of Asami but didn't fight Red about Korra, especially since he knew they got together and didn't wanna spoil it for Red.

The 31st, New Year's Eve, was a bit crazier. Lance's family, the ones that lived close by, always got together to celebrate.

There was always a big dinner, the adults would drink wine, some would have bottles of mixed drinks. The teens and kids got to drink pop and juice all night, along with chips, popcorn, and sweets.

It was about 11:30pm when Lance had finally been able to sneak away, he currently sat on the roof just outside his bedroom window. The section was flatter, overhanging the back deck, just beyond their yard was an extension of woods. This lead to their being less light pollution giving Lance the perfect view of the stars while he sat.

Time was slowly going by as the year was coming to an end. Phone in hand, he looked up to the stars, 11:40pm.

Every year he made the same resolution, to be better than he was last year. To work hard and improve on the things he does, it was his way of starting the year off full of motivation, it's also what tended to help him through exams in January.

But this year he wanted to make a different resolution, he just didn't know what yet.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Mom's giving me a weird look for being on my phone right now lol, your family still hasn't noticed you sneak off? _

He wanted it to be something special

11:51pm

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Nah, think everybody's a little too occupied yelling at the tv as it gets closure to midnight. You have a resolution for this year? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Yeah, I wanna take my art more seriously this year, I'm going to College for art so it makes sense lol, but I might also do what you said, I might start posting it online and selling it. _

11:57pm

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ That's awesome, you'll get tons of people wanting to buy your work in no time _

11:59pm

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Thanks, what about you, what's your resolution? _

12:00am

To confess to you before we leave for College.


	5. January

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, this has been don for a couple days now, anybody who follows my Instagram would've already seen it, but I totally forgot to update it on here. For anybody who's also waiting on 'Come Back to Me Safely, I am gonna continue it but a new chapter probably wont be until the new year my apologies.

12:01 am

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I don't know, if you're gonna share your art online, then I will resolve to be more confident in my writing and post it share it with more than just my friends and family. _

"Lance? Are you up here?"

Turning around he could see Rachel's silhouette as she entered his room, He hadn't bothered to turn on any of the lights when he'd climbed out to the roof.

"Jesus Lance, you're gonna freeze yourself and the room. What are you doing out there anyway?" She leaned against the windowsill, squeezing her sweater against herself.

"It's not that cold, I wanted to look at the stars." His phone lit up as it vibrated in his hands.

"Your talking to him aren't you, Veronica told me." They both looked towards the door as the cheering got louder, Rachel looked back at Lance with a sigh, "Got room for one more?"

  
  


With a nod of his head, she walked over to his closet and pulled out a blanket, carefully carrying it out the window with her laying it down to sit on.

Once comfortable she turned back to him, "So when do you get to meet him IRL?" White mist billowing around her as she spoke.

"Unless we figure out who the other is or set something up to meet, it won't be until the end of the year in June." He shrugged, Red had never attempted to set up a meeting, though neither did he and at this rate he was sure it wouldn't happen till June.

"Well if he isn't already into you, that's plenty of time to make him fall. If not, luckily enough your birthdays only a month after and we can go out for drinks to get over him."

He laughed, "Wow, thanks Rach, encouraging alcoholism as a remedy for a broken heart. We speaking from experience here?"

"Nah, I like a good tub of ice cream and a Marvel movie binge."

"Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth?"

"Evans all the way." They're laughing fit was interrupted by Lances phone buzzing again. "Might wanna answer that, don't wanna leave you man hanging." She waggled her eyebrows as he unlocked his scream.

"Ew, never do that again, I regret letting you out here."

"Nah, you love me." She threw her arm over his shoulders in a half hug.

"Yeah, I do." He began to ignore her as he read the messages, it wasn't hard as she pulled out her phone as well.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ That's awesome, you should totally do it, your amazing at characterization and portraying emotion, people will love it. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ My brother just had an idea and I think it would be really cool, with your writing and my art what if we made our own little comic for our first posts? I think it would be fun. _

Lance smiled, already he could tell this was gonna be an amazing year.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Tell your brother that's a great idea, I'm in. What kinda comic would you wanna make? _

~~~~

Turns out creating a comic was way harder than they thought.

They couldn't come up with an idea, let alone agree on one for the remainder of winter break. It wasn't until Monday, the night before they went back to school, did a conversation with Pidge and Hunk give Lance a great idea.

"You guys are a genius, thank you!" In a rush, he started pulling out his phone to email Red.

Pidge and Hunk shared a glance before turning to him in confusion, "Normally I'd say duh, but, what did we do?" Pidge cocked an eyebrow as she spoke.

"Your game, Dungeons and Dragons, it's exactly what Red and I needed."

"Your gonna play DnD with him?" Hunk was confused, and rightly so, Lance hadn't mentioned the comic idea to them.

_ To:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail _

_ Have you ever played Dungeons and Dragons? What if we used that as an outline for our comic? _

"Red's an artist and I love writing, both of us made New Year's Resolutions to start sharing our work online so his brother had an idea that he and I could create a comic together. We haven't been able to come up with an idea yet but this might help."

"That's...actually a really good idea. I definitely wanna see it when you guys are done; if you need to borrow any of my handbooks go right ahead." Pidge gestured to the shelf against her back wall that was overflowing in books.

"Oh, what if you guys mentioned it to your teacher, you guys might get extra credit for it."

"Holy shit Hunk, that would be awesome. I'll see what Red says.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ To:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ My friend had the best idea, what if we talked to Mrs. Peterson about the comic, we could try and get extra credit for it? _

It didn't take long for Red to respond after that.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ That is perfect, my brother has a handbook or two somewhere I can use. We can talk to her tomorrow during our classes about the possibility of extra credit. _

"DnD is a go." Lance high-fived his friends before making his way to the bookshelf, he may have been a little careless in his overexcitement as a few books fell on top of him in his search.

~~~~

By that Friday, December 10th, they had the basics of their characters created and the encouragement from their teacher. Though Mrs. Peterson didn't say how much extra credit they'd get for it, she was more than happy too and found the whole idea marvellous.

Because they couldn't give away their real names, they created names for their characters even if they were based on themselves. Lance named his character Pike, whereas Red named his Thunderstorm Darkness.

Lance obviously had a laughing fit when he'd read the name, but he didn't argue with Red about it. For writing purposes, he did get Red to agree to shorten it to just Thunderstorm.

Pike was a Half-Tabaxi rogue class, subclassing as an assassin; Thunderstorm was a Half-Elf ranger specializing in duel-wielding. Over the weekend during their conversations, they started working on the plot.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ You can use principal Zarkon as a reference, oooh or vice-principal Haggar. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Got it, I'll use both. Haggar would be a wizard or sorcerer, what would Zarkon be? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Some kinda barbarian/orc kinda character maybe. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ That works, we can make Zarkon a paladin. Now we just need a hook. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Well, Haggar the worst out of the two of them, what if we made her an evil sorcerer that corrupted Zarkon making him evil too? _

_ From:iamblue@gmail.com _

_ Perfect, we can include their son Lotor, he can be the catalyst that gets our characters to fight Zarkon and Haggar. _

_ ~~~~ _

They didn't get very far after that, it was the week before exams. This was the first time since they swapped emails that they barely talked. In class, they'd even used their letters to correct each other's notes.

Every class and credit counted, neither wanted to fail and it risk their chances at college.

By Friday Lance felt like a zombie, his brain so fried it couldn't even string together a coherent sentence. Tossing his bag in his desk chair, he threw himself belly-flop style onto his bed, hugging his pillow it sat between his arms and head. His hands sticking out on the other side grasping his phone.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Ugh, I can't wait for exams to be over, I wanna go back to winter break and relax. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I think I've spent more time studying in the past 24 hours then I've slept all week. Screw exams, I'm not even gonna use most of this after I graduate. _

Lance realized he'd never actually asked Red what he planned to do after high school. He needs the creative writing class for college and he took his art pretty seriously, was he planning to study it and make a career out of it?

This was a perfect opportunity as any to ask.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ What do you plan to do after high school? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Comic artist and/or animator, what about you? _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Marine biologist and/or a famous writer, whichever happens first lol. _

_ _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ You're the cryptids guy, if there's a chance Mothman could be really who's to say mermaids aren't? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Touché. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ If anythings gonna exist though it's gonna be aliens.  _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ What if aliens are already among us? What if there are half-alien people around us and nobody knows? _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Would aliens even have the right number of chromosomes to even do that? A donkey and horse are closely related enough that the can mix breed and create a mule, you can even mix a donkey with a zebra. Plus certain combinations need are dependent on which is the male and which is female; like a Jaglion, you need a male jaguar and a female lion. Would it work if a female human carried the child to term? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I...nobody other than my brother has actually taken me seriously when I bring up the possibility, you even went into more thought than I did. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ To be fair there's a section on my bio exam dealing about chromosomal disorders so it's all fresh in my brain, ask me after exam time and I'll have no clue. It is an interesting topic though, who's to say Earth is the only planet capable of sustaining life, and we have no idea what aliens could look like, they could look just like us. _

Lance had put thought into aliens before, yeah he grew up loving mermaids but he was a space kid as well, still was. When he was little he had dreamed of being an astronaut and meeting aliens, but as he got older he realized he didn't wanna leave his family for months at a time.

He was close to his family, he even dreamed of having his own. Getting married surrounded by his and his partner's family, having a kid or two. It was actually Veronica who gave him the idea of going into marine biology, once he'd learned more about it he knew it was exactly what he wanted to do.

They ended up talking for a few more hours, neither getting any studying done that night, but they both needed it. It was the first stressless night of sleep Lance had gotten since Monday.

~~~~

Sunday, Lance hadn't heard anything from Red since Sunday. To be fair he'd also been to busy to message him first.

He'd just finished his last exam with an hour to spare, instead of waiting for the school bus in the afternoon to get home he opted for the city bus. It was a quarter after eleven so the lunch rush had yet to start leaving the bus pretty bare.

Sitting down in the back he pulled his bag into his lap, he'd left his backpack at home using a shoulder bag instead, digging into the side pouch he pulled out his headphones. Of course, they were a knotted mess, he sighed.

Relaxing in his seat, music playing softly, he watched the scenes fly past the window. The air was warmer, clouds were slowly rolling in from the horizon, the weather had predicted a snowstorm later in the evening.

As the bus neared his stop Lance decided to change his destination, everyone would be at work so he'd have the house to himself. Normally he'd love the quiet and relax, but everything had been quiet lately with people focused on studying. He wanted the background noise of conversations and laughter.

He had a coffee shop he liked to visit just a few stops past his house, he glanced at the time on his phone. 11:30 am, he'd make it just in time to enjoy the bustling loudness of lunchtime. Another benefit would be the free wifi and Red's last period was Creative Writing so he hadn't had an exam that morning.

Reaching his destination, he got off the bus and walked down the road. Each shop he passed had window displays decorated in reds and pinks. 

Valentine's day.

The holiday gave Lance the perfect excuse to ask if Red was single, he'd been waiting, dying, for this opportunity. Lance was a sucker for love, but not just the romantic kind. He loved to shower his friends in platonic affection, to be loved and to give love; he wanted to shower Red in that kind of affection.

However, he didn't know if Red would be comfortable with it, especially if they were in a relationship, he didn't wanna be the cause of a misunderstanding.

With a deep breath he turned his gaze away from the windows and watched the people around him as a distraction, the coffee shop just a few buildings away now.

A bell above the door chimed as he opened the door, tucking his headphones back in his bag, the sounds of coffee makers, some popular radio station playing softly, and the chatting of the customers filled his ears, comforting him with the smell of vanilla and cinnamon.

Stepping in line he pulled out his phone and logged into the wifi, instantly it buzzed with an email.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Message me when you get this. How do you think you did? _

_ Sent 11:01am _

Lance grinned.

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ To:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Hey, I just got out a little while ago. I think I did pretty good, decided to go out for coffee to celebrate the end of the semester. _

As he hit send the person in front of him finished their order and moved on. He settled on ordering a large Cupid Iced latte; it was two-shot of espresso, lots of milk that was turned pink with food colouring, and pink chocolate simple syrup. It was a bright pink chocolatey drink, and he loved it.

Grabbing his drink he went and took a vacant seat by the window. Shucking off his jacket he pulled his phone out again he saw the dot next to Red's name indicating he was online and had sent a message.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Nice, I celebrated by eating an entire large pizza and video games lol, was passed out by 6 pm now that I no longer have anything to study for. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I can't wait to go to bed early and sleep in. I'm already dreading exams in June. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Oof yeah, most of my exams were first semester so June won't be as bad for me. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I mainly can't wait for summer, finally go swimming on the beach again. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Really? I hate the beach, sand just gets everywhere and you can never see if anything is swimming next to you. I panic anytime my feet touch seaweed when I'm not expecting it. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Who are you, Anakin Skywalker? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Hahaha very funny. It also doesn't help that I burn easily so I tend to just stay away from the beach, really I just stay inside for most of the summer lol. _

_ Lance sipped his coffee with a pout, he loved the beach so of course he'd wanna bring Red if they got together. Maybe if it was Varadero beach, the water was clearer there and the waves were perfect for surfing, they could always pile on loads of sunscreen, and if Red did end up burnt he'd make sure to take care of him. _

_ Lance nearly choked on that thought. He didn't even know if Red was single or even into him and here he was already thinking about taking him to Varadero. He just kept falling deeper for the guy. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Oh no, your one of those people that loves winter aren't you? You heathen, summer is the superior season, how do you live? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Winter is great but I don't love it, and you're wrong, autumn is the superior season. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Don't tell me you're one of those people that likes pineapple on pizza too. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ What do you have against pineapple on pizza? It's good. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Our friendship has been built on lies, how could you do this? _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Why are you so dramatic. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Rude. Oh, have you had a chance to start working on the character designs? Now that exams are over I can start working on the plot. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I got started on Zarkons design but that bout it, we can work on it now if you want. _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Yes! Let me just get home first so I can use my computer to write, I've been chilling at the coffee shop this whole time. _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Nice, message me when you get there I'll get to finishing Zarkon in the meantime. _

_ Looking up from his phone Lance was taken aback by how busy the place was, he'd been so focused on his conversation he hadn't noticed. Quickly he grabbed his stuff and made his way out the door, checking his phone in the process.  _

_ 12:50pm. _

_ Shit, he'd just missed the bus. He could wait and catch the 1:15 pm but it would be going the other way and take longer to go back around to his stop. Walking is quicker and luckily the weather was nice. _

_ Turning down the corner he started rushing home. _

School didn't start back up till Wednesday, so until then Red and Lance worked on their comic. They'd finally figured out their protagonists and where they wanted the story to go. Both had gotten way more invested than they originally thought they would.

~~~~

Wednesday started like any other school day, his creative writing class had stayed as his first period. It wasn't until second period that things took a turn of events. Lance had yet to figure out if it was a good thing or not, but regardless he was freaking out.

Lance had been playing guitar for years, half his family could, so to lessen the stress of second semester he'd taken a guitar class. His school offered more than just a general music class, they had a voice class, piano, and guitar.

The class itself isn't what had him panicking, it was vending machine guy. He was in the class as well, and now that he could get a better look he realized why he'd seemed so familiar. It was his crush from freshman year math class.

Keith.

The second Lance realized, all he wanted to do was slam his head on his desk. It was freshman year that he had figured out that he was bi, because of that he was as confident when approaching guys as he was girls. 

Didn't help that Keith was quiet and kept to himself making it impossible for Lance to casually start up a conversation. Somehow the school had been big enough that they hadn't had a class together since. Lance obviously got over him, or at least he thought he did. Keith had been good looking before but he'd gotten hotter in the last few years.

Lance no longer wanted to take the class.

Come lunch-time he practically threw himself at Hunk, "I need out of music, Keith got fucking hot."

Hunk looked at him confused, "Whose Keith?"

"Math class, freshman remember? Dude I used to complain about him to you all the time."

"Oh, your emo boy crush, I remember him now. Wait, but I thought you had a crush on Red?"

"I don't have a crush on Keith, uh anymore, it didn't even really count as a crush. It was physical attraction, we never actually spoke to each other for it to be more than that." Lance huffed, peeling himself off of Hunk and taking a seat next to him.

"Ok, then what's the problem? Why do you wanna get out of music?" Hunk asked.

"The problem is, I still have no idea what Red looks like let alone if he's even into me when there's a hot guy right in front of which by the way has a pride pin on his book bag. That wasn't there during freshman year, if it was, I would've asked him out forever ago."

Allura had gone weirdly stiff during his spiel, when Lance turned to look at her she completely avoided him. "Allura, you know something, don't you?"

She flinched at his question, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Can you look me in the eye and tell me that?" He leaned forward.

Allura looked up at him, she opened her mouth but nothing came out. After a minute she abruptly stood up, "I just remembered I have to go talk to uh...Ryner about something." And she was gone.

"She definitely knows something."

"Look, I say stick with Red. You said it yourself, you've never spoken to Keith and it was just physical attraction, you've been talking to Red for months now and have built a connection." Hunk shrugged.

Lance thought over Hunk's words, he had a point. Keith was just good looking, even if he had decided to ask him out it didn't mean they'd have any kinda connection.

"Yeah, you're right, thanks, buddy."

Even though he agreed with Hunk, it still made seeing Keith in class every day hard. He couldn't wait for the year to end and finally meet Red in person.


	6. February

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took so long and just got away from me, this is the longest chapter so far lol. If you wanna get quicker updates I post the chapters in parts as I complete them on my instagram @cryptid_child

Growing up, it had only been Keith and his mom. His Dad had died in a house fire when he was too young to remember.

His mom, Krolia, didn't remarry until the summer before he started high school. Keith had thought that the change from a family of two to a family of four would've been drastic, but the most drastic thing had been the move into their new house.

Shiro, his now step-brother, and he got along pretty quickly due to their love for shitty horror movies and space despite the seven year age gap. Shiro was already on his last year in college for his bachelor's degree, though he still had a long way to go for his goal of a Ph.D.

Keith settled into his new family and his new school fairly well. He'd ended up becoming friends with his neighbour James, who had introduced him to Ryan.

Things had been fine, until sophomore year. Keith had never dated, had never really been interested in dating, or girls in general. He'd always chalked it up to not having met the right person. So, when a girl in his English class asked him out, he was taken aback, not knowing what to say he agreed.

He regretted it immediately, she was loud and clingy, with not having any experience he had let her decide on what to do. Her idea was some cheesy chick-flick that was playing in theatres. After the movie she'd tried to kiss him, that was where he had to draw the line.

Lucky for him they ended things right there.

A month later, another girl had asked him out, with his previous experience he turned her down. He didn't understand why these girls were interested in him, none of them had talked to him beforehand, they didn't know anything about him.

Not long after that, Ryan and James had started dating. It took some getting used too, not that he didn't support them, he was happy for them, but even though Shiro was gay he was never home, so Keith had never seen a gay couple in person. Or, at least he hadn't seen one as far as he was aware.

Up to that point he hadn't understood relationships, how attraction worked. In hopes of figuring it out and possibly having a successful date in the future, he binged as many romance movies he could and started watching the girls in his classes.

None of it worked. He was left more confused in the end than he had been from the beginning. He figured he might as well just give up, and he did.

Up until spring formal, when instead of a girl, it was a guy from his class that asked him out. The look in his eyes as he looked at Keith awaiting a response made his heart skip.

Oh.

He never understood it, because he was looking at it in the wrong direction.

~~~~

Rolo and him dated for a few months before splitting up and realizing they were better as friends.

Keith had learned that he was gay, which his family was super supportive of, though Shiro was the one who sat him down to give him the gay version of the sex talk. He never wanted to go through that again, he still cringed at the memory of it.

He hadn't dated anyone since, Rolo was still a good friend, he'd even started dating a girl named Nyma. Keith hadn't been too interested in dating before so he was fine with being single, even if he was the only single friend in his group.

But now, sitting in front of an easel, he was surrounded by red and pink hearts hanging from strings, phone in hand open to his email, he for the first time wished he wasn't. Just a simple ' _ good morning'  _ sent Keith's heart soaring.

He wanted what his friends had, he wanted to hold hands while walking each other to class, to lean on each other as they studied. To just be able to see Blue's face light up when he laughed.

The hard part was not knowing if it was reciprocated and to be too inexperienced to have the courage to ask.

Allura startled him out of his thoughts as she came up behind him, poking harshly at his shoulder. "You awake?"

Blinking, he looked back at his phone to see the screen had turned black. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm awake, what's up?" Allura was cool, they mostly talked during their last period, she only really talked to him in art when she needed his help.

"I asked if you could pose for me, I'm having trouble getting the anatomy to look right?"

"Sure, how do you want me?" He tucked his phone back in his jeans, shucking off his jacket he stood up straight and relaxed his muscles. This wasn't the first time he'd posed for her and she was very picky so he's gotten used to just letting her manhandle him into place. "So-"

"I'm not telling you." She nudged the back of his heel with her foot, repositioning his stance as she turned his shoulders slightly.

"You didn't let me ask, how do you even know what I was gonna say?" He huffed.

"Because I know you Kogane and you're impulsive, I'm not giving you any clues as to who Blue is."

He rolled his eyes, she was fixing his heads position so Allura saw it perfectly. "It doesn't have to be anything that would give him away, just tell me...what's he like in person? He seems...dramatic but not like he's doing it for attention."

"He's the most dramatic person I know, he's perfect for writing," she laughed. "He would've been amazing in the schools play as well if he'd listen to Romy and me."

She took a step back then to look over her work, his weight was on his left leg as the other was behind him, toes to the ground twisting his hips to the right. His shoulders were turned to the left, arms slightly bent hanging as if he was walking, head tilted to the right ever so slightly up and back sticking his jaw out.

The twist in his spine was slowly becoming uncomfortable but he'd rather deal with that then the wrath that was Allura.

"He's dramatic yes, but he's also extremely selfless. I've seen him put others before himself countless times, sometimes to the point, he needs to be reminded to do things for himself." Allura spoke softly as she talked about Red, her eyes staring blankly at her page as her hand sketched his figure.

Keith thought back to his interactions with Blue, Allura's comment had reminded him of his birthday. He'd only mentioned it in passing in their letters, not having yet creating the emails, and he figured it would be forgotten or left unaddressed, he hadn't mentioned it with the expectation of anything.

And yet, Blue went out of his way to get him something personal. Even after they'd exchanged emails he had picked up on Blues change in schedule, Blue had noticed how early Keith got up in the morning and he started to as well.

Speaking of which, he had yet to respond. Peeking out of the corner of his eyes to see if Allura was done, she had gone silent in her focus. "Am I good to move? Starting to cramp here."

"Oh, yeah sorry, you're good." She had jumped at his question, giving him a sheepish grin as an apology for forgetting he was there.

"No worries, glad I could help." He twisted his back the other way, stretching out the kink before sitting back down and taking out his phone.

~~~~

Friday was the last day Student Council was selling roses, next Friday was valentine's day and they always had to do it a week before so they could get all the orders in. Every day that week, Keith had stopped a little ways away from the booth and contemplated the idea. In the end, always deciding against it.

The flowers were always giving out first period, so if he had given into the idea he'd be able to just address it to Blue since he knew his morning class.

He continued to stare at the booth, fifteen minutes left of lunch and his last chance would be gone. How would Blue react to a rose on Valentine's day? Would it be to forward?

He groaned, what was he even thinking, he hadn't even met this guy in person. Tilting his head he looked over at his friends' lunch table, all of them were looking at him with wide grins, noticing he was looking at them they collectively gave him a thumbs up for encouragement.

You know what, screw it. Whether or not he bought the stupid thing they were all gonna continue teasing him about his crush, so why not get it over with. Pushing himself off of the wall he confidently strutted towards the booth.

But the closer he got, the more nervous he felt. By the time he'd stepped in line, three people ahead of him, all the courage he'd mustered up a second ago was gone.

Nope, he couldn't do this. As the person in front of the line finished their purchase and moved on, causing the others to step forward, he turned on his heel and booked it to the lunch table.

"Not a word." He mumbled as he dropped himself into his seat and buried his head in his arms, hopefully hiding how red his face felt in the fabric of his sweater.

~~~~

Regret was starting to kick in by Monday morning. Keith kept zoning out, mentally berating himself for chickening out, he should have just bought the flowers. If things didn't go well he could have just said it was meant platonically.

It was while zoned out, eyes focused on his shoes while his fingers ran along the guitar strings carelessly, his other hand pressed on the neck to mute any sounds he made, that he noticed a familiar song playing. The kid, Keith couldn't remember his name, was sitting on the floor in the corner as he played.

He had his eyes closed, focused solely on playing that he hadn't noticed he'd grabbed the attention of the whole class. 90% of the students in the class were beginners to the instrument, so it wasn't surprising the awe everyone was in as he switched between strumming and fingerpicking, not once opening his eyes.

The song had ended before Keith could figure out what it was. Pausing just long enough to reposition himself, but not long enough for anybody to start clapping, he started another song. Immediately Keith could tell it was by a different artist but it was still familiar, only when the guy started humming along with the chorus did he remember it.

It was a song he'd told Blue about. Blue had mentioned liking Missio when Keith had first mentioned them, so he'd recommended grandson as well. Blood // Water being his favourite, and here was another student playing a perfect cover of it on an acoustic guitar.

Keith hadn't realized was staring the whole time until the song ended and the guy opened his eyes, only to make direct contact with Keiths.

Fuck.

He tried to play it off like he was zoned out or possibly looking over the chord chart above the kids' head, it probably wasn't believable but he hoped the guy wouldn't call him out. Without looking back to see if he was still looking at Keith, he set the guitar down in its case and made his way over to the desk to grab a capo, not because he needed it but because he needed a distraction.

Maybe he should've taken piano instead, than at least he'd be wearing headphones so he wouldn't be able to hear the other students. Heading back to his seat he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, only bringing him back to his inner dilemma from earlier, great.

Turned out it was just a text from Shiro though when he pulled out his phone. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the guy from earlier was now helping another student on their finger position. If a cute boy playing his favourite song could make him that much of a disaster, he wondered how Blue would react if he learned a song for him.

~~~~

When he got home that evening he went straight for his nightstand, tossing his book bag on his bed startling Kosmo awake. Kosmo just huffed before going back to his nap.

Inside his nightstand was two neatly stacked piles of letters, each stack held together with a rubber band. He had them in order, oldest on the bottom in the stack furthest from him and the newest on top of the stack in front of him. The second stack had finally reached the height of the first, any more and the drawer wouldn't be able to close.

Reaching underneath the stacks he grabbed another band and loosely wrapped it around today's letter he'd pulled from his sweater pocket. Placing it in front of the others he reached back for the oldest stack, music had been a huge topic when they first started talking, so if Keith was gonna find a good one to learn, it would be in there somewhere.

Pulling off the elastic he tossed it back in the drawer and walked over to his desk. He flipped the pile over setting it down on his left, slowly he went down the pile rereading the letters and placing them neatly on his right.

It was surreal, watching his friendship with Blue grow on the pages; Keith smiled to himself as he read. He wasn't really sure what had made him keep the letters in the beginning, but he was glad he did.

An hour of reading and a month's worth of letters in, he found a song he'd forgotten Blue had mentioned, to be fair it was in a list recommending ten others. The name was familiar but he couldn't recall what it sounded like or whether he'd even listened to this one.

Reaching into his sweater he pulled out his phone, once on he noticed an email notification. Shit. He'd been so wrapped up in finding a song in their letters to learn, that he forgot to message Blue when he got home like usual. 

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ To:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Ugh, the bus ride was annoying. A group of freshmen started some sort of fight in the font and the driver pulled us over for like 15mins to get it sorted out. _

_ Sent: 4:17pm _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ To:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Hey, do you have any plans on Valentine's Day? I'm stuck babysitting my niece and nephew since my brothers' usual babysitter has a date. Not only am I the youngest, but I am also the only single sibling making me the designated babysitter in these situations. Anyway, if you don't have any plans I could totally use somebody to talk to when they got to bed at 8. _

_ Sent: 4:21pm _

It was currently 5:30pm, and if Keith was reading this right, which he really hoped he was, Blue wanted to spend Valentine's day with him. Well sort of. And he's already messed up by taking an hour to respond.

Speaking of, how did he respond? He'd always heard people talk about 'playing hard to get', is that what he should do right now? Yeah nope, he didn't even know how to do that. He started tapping against his desk, phone sitting in front of him as he stared at the email.

Honesty was always good, especially if Keith really was reading into it more than intended. His heart sank, with a groan he picked his phone back up, it wouldn't surprise him if he was misunderstanding Blue's intentions. Honesty it was, not like he had any plans anyways.

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I'm free, I was just gonna do homework, probably order pizza and watch a movie with Kosmo. _

Hitting send he switched to the youtube app, playing the song he'd found as he put the letters back in their drawer. The lyrics were a bit depressing which surprised him, but he did enjoy the song and it's not like he was planning to sing it. Now he just had to learn it, he had about four months, that should be plenty of time.

~~~~

It hadn't taken him long after that to find sheet music he could understand, though he did have to fork over a few bucks, and restrung Shiro's old acoustic. When Keith and his mom moved in Shiro had just bought his second guitar, a really nice one he'd been saving up for, so he had let Keith use the old one and taught him how to play. 

When Shiro was at school they'd video chat when they could so Keith could keep learning. It helped them get close despite living in different towns, it also helps keep holidays from being awkward whenever Shiro visited.

All week he spent class working on getting his finger positions right and slowly remembering the song, not once actually strumming or picking the strings. He didn't really want the attention on him like it had been the other guy on Monday, so he saved most of his practice for the privacy of his room.

He'd actually learned the guy's name, Lance, the day after when he'd overheard another classmate ask him for help. That was another kind of attention Keith didn't want, yeah he could play but he didn't have the patience to teach somebody else. 

Keith had expected to have a shitty Friday, and he kinda did, but not for the reason he'd expected. He'd expected to be in a depressing mood seeing everyone receive flowers knowing he'd been to chicken to buy one for Blue and that he probably wasn't going to get one. And he was right he didn't get one, physically anyway.

Blue had sent him a gif of red flowers blooming and happy valentine's Red, written underneath. Immediately he searched the internet for a similar gif with blue flowers and was pleased when he found one easily, it had been way better then any stupid rose he could've gotten at school.

The shitty part, however, was that his guitar teacher had decided to do a surprise review of everybody's skill, in front of the class. He also decided that he was gonna make the entire class learn a song together and play it at the end of the year assembly. Not to mention the performance was now worth 15% of their grade.

Keith wanted nothing more but for the world to end in that exact moment.

He was currently slumped in his seat in the back of the class awaiting his turn. In the corner of his eye, he could see Lance, who was just a few seats away, turning his phone over in his hands under the desk. So far he'd only picked up Lance's first name so he didn't know when it would be his turn, the teacher was picking students in alphabetical order.

Would the teacher even make Lance play? Everyone had heard him already. Which brought Keith to his little dilemma, he didn't know what to play. He could play what he could of the song he'd been practicing, though it was personal and had been a reason why practiced it at home, or he did his best to remember and play a song Shiro had taught him.

The semester was only three weeks in so obviously the teacher wasn't expecting everyone to play perfectly, but it was still making Keith antsy. With a sigh, he sat up and looked over the doodles he had in his notebook to hopefully get rid of his nerves.

His most recent pages were covered in character design ideas, he had most of the characters done at this point but looking at the pages he realized there was still one he hadn't started on. Quickly, and quietly, he pulled out his phone and sent Blue an email.

_ To:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ From:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ We decided to make our comic characters based on ourselves, which is cool but there's a problem. I can't design your character cause I don't know what you look like and you can't tell me. _

A few more people had gone, two more left until it was Keith's turn. Focusing on the comic helped calm his nerves easily enough, he'd decided to play Snow Patrol by Chasing Cars. It was the only song Shiro taught him that he could remember and it was better than playing a Billie Eilish song in front of everyone. Just before he was ready to sit in front of the class Blue responded.

_ To:iamRed@gmail.com _

_ From:iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Shit. _

_ I completely forgot about that, I'll think of something and can send some reference photos or something for my character. _

With a deep breath, he got up and played for the class. Thinking of Blue as he played made him feel a little more confident even if Blue wasn't really there. Or at least, he didn't know if he was but it was a nice thought to think Blue could hear him.

When he was done the class gave him a round of applause, which kinda made him uncomfortable but he had been the only one so far to play a full song so he let it go. On his way back to his seat he saw Lance watching him, sitting down he turned to give him a questioning look.

What he hadn't expected was Lance's face to turn red and look away so fast it was surprising he hadn't snapped his neck the second they made eye contact. Lance had blushed, because of him?

Keith watched Lance in his peripherals for the rest of class, it seemed after that incident Lance was avoiding looking his way. The only thing he could think was that Lance was embarrassed for getting caught staring, he just didn't know why he was staring.

When Class had ended he acted like it hadn't happened when he passed Lance on his way to his next class. Lance hadn't said anything when he'd caught Keith staring earlier that week so why would he say anything when Lance really did seem embarrassed. 

It didn't take long for Keith to forget the incident entirely. The closer the day came to a close the more excited he got about talking to Blue. Yeah they talked pretty much every day, and Blue hadn't called it a date, but the fact that they planned their conversation ahead of time and it was valentines day, it just felt special.

Keith got home from school around 4pm, Blue was babysitting right after school so he wouldn't be available till 8pm when the kids went to sleep. He had four hours to waste.

He sat on his bed, leg bouncing anxiously, phone in hand as he checked the time every five minutes, wishing for time to go by faster. Kosmo was sitting in front of him, tail wagging happily against the floor.

He should take him out for a walk, otherwise he's gonna be hyper all night, but he didn't want to leave and not have a wifi connection in caser Blue messaged him early.

With a groan, Keith leaned back letting his body crashed down onto his bed. Opting to tap his phone against his leg instead of bouncing it as it was uncomfortable at the new angle. Kosmo let out a soft whine as he placed his head in Keith's lap.

"You really wanna go out, huh?" Kosmo let out another whine as he nudged his head further up his lap. Great, he was being guilt-tripped by his dog. Looking at his phone one last time he noted it was a quarter to 5, still three hours to go.

"Ugh, your lucky I love you," Carefully pushing Kosmo out of the way he swung his legs using the momentum to throw himself upwards, " let's go then," He huffed.

Walking to the front door Kosmo was bouncing with excitement as he ran around Keith's legs. He took his time grabbing his keys and any other necessities he might need while they were out.

Crouching down, Kosmo finally sat still so he could attach his harness, clasping the last buckle, Keith gently grabbed Kosmo's face bringing it level to his. "No going crazy, this is just a quick walk. I'm really looking forward to tonight so I don't wanna be out forever and get too tired, okay?" Kosmo gave his face a slobbery kiss in response. "Thanks buddy, your all the encouragement I need."

Placing a kiss on Kosmos head, Keith stood up opening the door for them. Once He was sure Kosmo was clear from getting his tail jammed in the door he locked it, popped in his headphones and started down the street.

Spring was just around the corner, days were slowly beginning to last longer, not by much though. Walking around the block a few times, the sun was beginning to set.

The longer he was outside the more he enjoyed it and began to relax. Deciding to waste as much time as they could now, Keith started to take a long way home, stopping at a nearby playground.

The weather was nice, warm enough that he didn't get cold from lazily swinging on the swing set, but cold enough that he was sweating in his jacket from the walk. Slowly the sky filled with pinks and oranges that reflected against the snow, the blackness of the night slowly becoming visible on the horizon.

He wanted to share this moment with Blue.

The thought brought a soft smile to his face. It was still a weird feeling, to be so infatuated with someone he had never met. He wouldn't say he was in love, not yet, but he felt like Blue was someone he could love someday.

Pulling out his phone he noted it was almost 7pm. Getting up from the swing, he crouched a few feet in front of Kosmo as he lay panting in snow. Carefully angling his phone he took a photo capturing how the light reflected off of the fur blowing in the gentle breeze, and everything was cast in a soft pink hue from the sky.

This was probably his best photo to date. Quickly saving it as his lock screen, he picked up Kosmo's leash and started heading home.

The walk wasn't long after that. Putting the harness away and patting kosmo dry, he headed to the living room as he dialled up the closest pizza place. To think, just a few hours ago he was bursting with nervous energy, but now, he felt as calm as he could be.

It didn't take long for the pizza to arrive and he wrapped himself in a blanket on the couch, Kosmo at his feet, as he watched Buzzfeed Unsolved episodes.

He was starting his fourth episode when he looked at the time, it was 8:33pm. His heart slowly began to sink, Blue had said his niece and nephew went to bed at 8 and that he'd be able to talk then. Maybe he lost track of time? Keith just did so maybe Blue did as well, or maybe the kids were being difficult and he was having a hard time getting them to go to bed.

Keith cringed at that last thought, it was very likely that was what was happening. He had definitely made it hard on his mom plenty of times growing up when it came to bedtime. Switching to his email he sent Blue an email to make sure everything was ok.

_ From: iamRead@gmail.com _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Hey, how's the babysitting going? I took Kosmo to the park earlier, he could definitely be a model lol, what do you think? I'm just watching Buzzfeed videos if you still wanna talk tonight. _

_ image.jpg _

Hitting send he went back to watching his videos and eating what was left of his pizza. Doing his best to remain hopeful that something had come up that was keeping Blue busy. He got through about a video and a half before he got an email notification.

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ OMG, I AM SO SORRY, normally their sweethearts and are super easy to babysit. Nadia's goldfish died today so both of them were hysterical and it took forever to get them to bed. They've finally calmed down and gone to bed though. Also, holy shit dude, that is an amazing photo. Kosmo could be the next insta star lol. You watching the supernatural or unsolved case videos? _

Keith sunk further into the couch, the small smile that was making its way onto his face getting hidden underneath the blanket. He hadn't realized how tense he had gotten waiting for Blue, his jaw and shoulders aching slightly now that the muscles were relaxed.

Blue still wanted to talk to him.

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Hey no worries, hopefully, their ok now. Losing a pet can be hard. I'm glad you like the photo, he's sleeping on my feet now. I'm watching the sixth season of their supernatural series. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

I wanna see the sleeping doggo.

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I’m being used for my dog pics. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ NOOOO RED, BUDDY, YOU ARE MORE THAN JUST YOUR DOG _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ There's also your incredible art skillz. _

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Rude. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ lol, Kosmo may be cute and I definitely wanna cuddle him, but I really do like talking to you. I look forward to our chats. _

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I like really talking to you too, Blue. _

_ Keith carefully leaned forward to take a photo of Kosmo without waking him up. _

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Kosmo would love to cuddle, he loves attention. _

_ image.jpg _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ How do you have the cutest dog? I would die for Kosmo. So how was your day? _

Keith leaned back in his seat, turning the tv on to a random channel for background noise. Kosmo let out a huff at the movement but didn't wake up.

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Just lucky I guess, and there better be no dying, kids just lost a goldfish don't think they'd wanna lose an uncle. My day was ok, a teacher decided to do a random review so that was torture but it was skill-based rather than knowledge-based so it wasn't graded. Well, it wasn't this time. What about you, how was your day? Aside from the goldfish incident. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Lol very true, and I am their favourite Uncle. Oof, surprise quizzes/reviews are never fun, it's like teachers forget how stressful school is, funny enough though I also had a random review today. What a coincidence, unless...jk lol. My day was good, accidentally slept in this morning so I had to catch a ride with my sister and because I only missed the bus, I wasn't actually gonna be late for school we stopped to pick up coffee on the way. So best sibling of the year award goes to her. My friend finally asked out the girl he's been crushing on out for dinner tonight and she said yes so that was awesome. And now I get to chill with Valentine's day chocolate and talking to you. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Oh, before I forget I wanted to ask you something, though you totally don't have to answer. I was wondering, since you didn't have a date for tonight didn't that mean you were single or do you just not celebrate Valentines? _

He'd been in the middle of writing a response when he got the second message. Was Blue asking if he was single out of curiosity as a friend, or because he was possibly interested in Keith? Blue had mentioned he was single before, so maybe. 

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Lol, no worries. Yeah, I'm single, the celebrating part of it idk. Do you count giving out those cheap cards with the cartoon characters out to your classmates in elementary-school as celebrating it? Currently, I'd say that's about as close as I've gotten to it I guess. _

As he waited for Blue's response he started worrying if he had said the wrong thing. Maybe he should've just left it at the 'I'm single' part. Blue was taking his time to respond this time, Keith started to chew on his lip as he grew nervous.

"BANG!”

"FUCK!" Keith shouted as he jumped from his seat, phone flying from his hand across the room. Kosmo stood up from the noise, getting right in his way and tripped Keith over. Everything happened so fast he was just barely able to wrap his arms around his head and turn so that when he landed, he fell on his side rather than face.

He landed hard on the wood floor, nothing was broken but he was definitely gonna have a nasty bruise. Groaning he figured out what had happened. While he'd been talking to Blue, the show he had put on in the background had ended and a crime drama had come one, his phone had vibrated the same time a gun had gone off in the show.

Slowly he rolled over onto his back to see the damage he'd done to his side, Kosmo, however, had other plans. His face no visible, still groaning in pain, Kosmo got right up close and started covering him with slobbery kisses. “Kosmo, no, stop. Kosmo I’m ok, get off. Kos-no stop.”

Kosmo was completely over top of him now, Keith was starting to shake uncontrollably as Kosmo's tongue tickled the side of his neck and ear. "Kosmo...stop I can't...breath," His voice was coming out as a wheeze between giggles, some fur getting in his mouth when he inhaled. "Kosmo, I need to get my phone-shit Kosmo off. Where's my phone?"

Turning on his other side, he curled up pulling his head out from under Kosmo's paws using his legs to keep him from crawling over him more. Free, he wiped his face with his sleeve as he stood up to survey the room. "Please don't be broken, please don't be broken." He mumbled.

It wasn't immediately noticeable so he went back to where he'd been sitting and slowly lifted the blanket to see if it had gotten caught in it during the chaos. "Fuck." He'd definitely thrown in, grabbing the house phone off the side table he dialled his number, "Please ring, come on, come on..." Nothing. "Please don't let that be a bad sign." He slammed the phone back on its dock and got down to start looking under the furniture.

Ten minutes later and he was lying face up in the middle of the room, still unable to locate his phone, he wanted to cry. If need be he could message Blue on his computer but it wasn't as convenient as his phone and if he couldn't find it by Monday they wouldn't be able to talk during the day.

During his search, Kosmo was messing with the tv stand, either trying to get under or behind it. It had been harmless at first, but now he was starting to knock over the speakers. "Your gonna break something, what are you trying to do?" Gently shoving him out of the way he stood the speakers back up and started looking around to see if a toy had gotten stuck.

"How the fuck..." Low and behold, there sat his phone suspended by cords behind the tv. Pulling it out from the mess he noted the battery had fallen out and looked back to see it along with the backing on the floor, the cords and dust had camouflaged them when he'd looked under the stand earlier.

The screen seemed to be intact, the only visible issue was a few new scratches on the back but that must've been from when it hit the wall or something. He put it back together and hit the power button, now for the real test. 

Anxiously he held his breath until the screen flashed on, "Oh thank god. You knew it was back there didn't you?" Kosmo was sitting happily, tail wagging and tongue hanging, over by the tv where Keith had left him. "Thanks, buddy."

Once it was fully loaded he unlocked it and opened up his email, picking up the remote to mute the TV this time while it loaded, and read Blue's messages.

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I wouldn't really count that I guess, that's something that kinda gets forced upon you as a kid, you're not really celebrating it for the sake of it. Hypothetically, if you were to celebrate it, like somebody asked you out, what would be your ideal date? _

_ Sent: 9:12pm _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Red? It shows your still online, are you ok? _

_ Sent: 9:20pm _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Hey, I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable that wasn't my intention, you can forget I even asked. We can talk about the comic if you want. _

_ Sent: 9:23pm _

Keith needed another minute before he could formulate a response. For one, Blue was talking in hypotheticals about Keith's ideal date, which was never a subtle tactic, he'd seen enough movies at this point to know. And two, he made Blue upset and think he'd made him uncomfortable.

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ 1: Hypothetically, I'd say an arcade or bowling alley would be my ideal date. It's not intimate like a dinner, and a movie is just too awkward, you sit in a dark room for almost two hours and then leave, just no. I'd like to be able to talk and get to know my date and just eat cheap junk food while we have fun. 2: No your question didn't make me uncomfortable, I didn't mean to leave you hanging like that. I may have uh...lost my phone there for a few minutes. Kosmo found it behind the TV, don't ask, so it's all good. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Oh thank god, I was starting to panic thinking I made you uncomfortable and you didn't wanna talk to me anymore. That actually sounds like a nice idea, I can't believe I never thought of something like that. Also, don't leave me hanging like that, of course I'm gonna ask. How in the world did you lose your phone behind the TV? _

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Pretty sure it's gonna take more than a simple question to make me stop talking to you. Why am I not surprised, ugh fine. I have the TV going and I wasn't paying attention to it, so I may have gotten spooked and threw my phone. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ OMG that is hilarious, the mighty Red who watches horror movies for fun, got spooked by a loud noise _

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I change my mind, I don't wanna talk to you anymore. _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ RED NOOOOOO I KID!!  _

After teasing each other, both had forgotten about Blue's question, and it wasn't brought up again throughout the night. At some point, Keith had passed out on the couch, they'd ended up talking for hours. The only sign that his parents had come home last night was waking up to the TV turned off. 

~~~~

There'd ended up being a snowstorm Monday morning, Blue was put on babysitting duty again. He had the house to himself and was in the midst of trying to get homework done so that he would be free to talk to Blue later when he was free.

Except that wasn't going well. They'd been studying Shakespeare's works since winter break ended, and was supposed to use what they've learned to write a script for a one-scene play. 

He'd understood the material well enough, he hadn't expected it to be this hard. For the last hour, he'd been sitting at his desk, laptop open to a word document with nothing but his name. This was his only assignment at the moment and he only had until Friday to get it done, otherwise, he'd try working on something else instead.

He could continue practicing the guitar, but he didn't feel like he'd be able to stay focused on that either.

The screen turned black as his laptop went to sleep, he'd been staring at it without actually doing anything. Slumping back in his seat he groaned, throwing his head back off his chair, he looked up at his ceiling instead.

At this point, he'd be better off just waiting and asking Blue for help. Keith brought his arms up, digging the palms of his hands into his eyes, rubbing the blurriness out of them. Once satisfied he turned over to look at his clock.

1:13 pm

Ok, so maybe he'd been at it for longer than an hour.

Keith closed his laptop as he stood up, pocketing his phone on his way out of his room. Maybe he couldn't focus because he hadn't had lunch.

Flicking the light on as he walked into the kitchen, Kosmo came barreling in from the living room, "Hey buddy." He headbutted Keith, tail wagging, as a greeting.

He didn't feel like making anything complicated, a simple sandwich was fine, so he started making his way to the fridge to grab what he needed when the photos stuck to the fridge door caught his eye. Their fridge was covered in mismatching magnets, each one from a different place. Some were bought themselves during trips, others were given to them by friends and family.

However, it wasn't their magnet collection that caught his eye, it was what the magnets held up. some were a few of his older pencil sketches, but most were family photos. A very particular one from his birthday couple years prior at a nearby bowling alley that had an arcade in the back.

The exact kinda place he had been telling Blue about for his ideal date.

Quickly he pulled out his phone going straight to his email, opening a blank message before freezing. Had Blue intended to ask him out or was he trying to drop hints for Keith to ask him out? There had to have been a reason for the topic to be brought up, not just for it be forgotten like it had been.

Right?

What was Keith even supposed to say now that he'd remembered it? "God damn it," he mumbled. Turning off his phone and slipping it back in his pocket, he no longer had an appetite, he made his way to the living room. He couldn't focus on schoolwork and had zero motivation to draw or practice the guitar, so he decided to find a video game to distract himself with.

~~~~

The question wouldn't leave him alone all week, it was starting to haunt him at this point. It was to the point that he was laying in bed, nearly 2am on Saturday, unable to sleep.

He was done, he gave up.

Throwing his blanket off, aggressively to the point they were now a pile on his floor, he got up and went over to where his phone was plugged in on his desk. He knew Blue most likely wasn't up at this hour but he still had to get it off of his chest. Opening his email he went straight to writing out his message.

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Hey, do you remember what you asked me on Valentine's Day? I've been thinking about it and was wondering if we could talk about it. _

Hitting send, Keith let out a deep sigh. That was the least he could do, for now, a weight already lifting off of his shoulders, now he just had to wait till morning for a response. He plugged his phone back in and went back to bed. Just as he had resituated his blankets and getting comfy his phone went off.

Confused as to what it could be, he begrudgingly crawled back out of bed and to his phone. It was an email notification from Blue.

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ From: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Yeah, we can talk. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ What are you doing still up? _

Keith took his phone with him back to his bed, pulling up his blankets again, and sat back against his propped up pillows. Since they were both online, he'd switched to the chat rather than responding to the email.

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Phone woke me up. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Shit sorry, we can talk later. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Nah, it's actually probably better that you brought it up at 2 am. When I'm sleep deprived, or in this case half-asleep, I have no brain-to-mouth filter (brain-to-hand?). If we tried to talk about it later I'd probably be to chicken shit to take it seriously. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Wait, what, why wouldn't you take the conversation seriously? _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Because there was a reason why I asked what your ideal date was. I'd been planning it since I asked you to talk on Valentine's day. I know you took so long to reply because you lost your phone, but the wait made me paranoid that I'd said the wrong thing and regretted the question entirely. _

Keith went to start typing his response when the three little dots at the bottom appeared,showing that Blue was still typing. He erased what he'd started and waited.

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I like you for your personality and had been leading up to asking you out with that question, obviously it didn’t work out like that. This is why talking about it now is better than when I’m fully conscious because I’d probably over think my response and dig myself a whole or something. Make some bullshit excuse that I was just curious as a friend and cause it was Valentines so why not. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ You were planning on asking me out? _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Yeah. I’m sorry if knowing that makes it awkward, I’d much rather just forget the whole thing, I don’t want to lose you as a friend. _

Keith was taken aback. Not only did Blue reciprocate his feelings, but attempted to ask him out. He could feel his face heat up as his cheeks started to cramp up with how wide he was smiling. His heart was beating so loud he was sure it was echoing off his walls and his parent were gonna walk in at any moment 

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm himself down. He wanted to play this smooth, or as smooth as he could at 2 am Sleep deprived.

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Do you still feel that way about me? _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

Ugh, this is humiliating but yes, I do still like you that way, my feelings didn't just go away.

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.come _

_ Ok, then I'll forget about it. Under one condition. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ ...ok _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ You try again. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ ... _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I think I missed something somewhere, what? _

Keith covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Well, I was the one who ended up ruining the moment by losing my phone, so you never actually got to ask me. So, if you say you'll try again when you're completely conscious, not now, I'll forget about it. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ If this is some cruel attempt to embarrass me just for you to turn me down no thanks. Pretty sure I've embarrassed myself enough at this point. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Blue, if I was gonna turn you down why would I ask you to ask me out again? _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Wait, so you're saying yes? YOU LIKE ME BACK?! _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I don't know, you haven't asked me yet. ;) _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Asshole. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Not usually what you'd call somebody you plan to ask out. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Ok, I promise to try again when I'm awake. So you'll completely forget about this and me embarrassing myself? _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I'm gonna have to sleep on it. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ I am regretting so many life choices right now. I'll talk to you later, I'm gonna go bury my head under pillows in shame. _

Keith rolled his eyes, smile still on his face, as he turned his phone off and placed it on his nightstand. He was too lazy to get out of bed again to plug it in at this point. Readjusting his pillows, he rolled onto his side and got comfy, sleep finally taking over. 

~~~~

The following week Keith was constantly antsy. He knew Blue was gonna ask, he just didn't know when. He'd told James and the others on Monday about what happened, and now every time they talked to him they asked if Blue had asked yet.

By Friday, their enthusiasm had started to get annoying. He knew they were just trying to be supportive and wanted him to be happy, but being asked nearly twenty times a day kinda sucked the excitement out of it. Finally that morning he'd asked them to stop and they agreed to.

He was starting to find art boring, he just wanted to practice playing the guitar as much as he could. His leg would not stop bouncing until the bell rang and he was off to second period. With the prospect of going on a date, he was even more determined to practice the song. He really wanted to impress Blue.

Of course, his teacher seemed to have other plans. Again.

He'd decided to spend the day going over more theory. At the beginning of the semester, he taught a few basic chords to get people started, the parts of the guitar, and how to tune it. So, not much. Now he was going more in-depth with reading sheet music.

Keith mentally groaned, he already knew this stuff from Shiro. So instead of being good and listening, he had pulled out his phone and was attempting to message Blue under his desk. If Blue couldn't respond because he was actually working in his class, he could always resort to annoying James. Dude was in a regular senior English class this period.

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ From: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Hey, you still never sent me any reference photos of what to base your character on. We also haven't really put together any plot yet. _

Despite how interested in the idea of making a comic together they both were, they always ended up sidetracked and hardly worked on it.

He sat there for a few minutes contemplating if he should try doodling in his notebook despite having no motivation for it or bother James. Luckily he didn't have to wait long before it was decided for him when Blue messaged back.

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ From: iamBlue.com _

_ Oops, I totally meant to do that. Think Korra from Legend of Korra, obviously a dude though, and he could be like half-Tabaxi. Mostly human but with cat ears and a tail. Plot-wise I don't know. Shouldn't you be paying attention in class? _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ I can work with that. And what about you, you responded so you're not paying attention either. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ You're right. Bye. XP _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ No, I'm bored, come back. We're being taught material I already know, don't leave me in my suffering. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

You're trying to pull the sympathy card on me intentionally aren't you?

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Maybe... _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Ugh, you tell a guy you like him and then he uses it against you. Lucky for you I'm not learning anything new right now. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ You know, for wanting me to forget about it, by bringing up the fact that you technically already confessed makes it a little hard to forget. _

There was a quiet thunk to Keiths left, the teacher was playing music examples so nobody else seemed to have noticed. At first glance he couldn't see what had made the sound. Then it happened again.

Lance had dropped his head and was quietly hitting it against the surface of his desk. Keith had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at the sight, he'd forgotten that he probably wasn't the only one bored.

Speaking of, Keith stopped as he had an idea. Lance was the best in class, could probably even be better than the teacher though he'd never state that out loud. 

There was a part of the song that Keith had been struggling with and was the reason he'd been wanting to practice, he wanted to get it right. He hadn't wanted others to know what he was practicing out of embarrassment, but it was starting to get obvious that he was gonna have to ask somebody to help. The teacher was out of the question because he'd probably make Keith play it in front of the whole class the next time he wanted to review everybody.

Lance, however. He seemed to like similar music so he wouldn't tease Keith for his taste in music, and he was kind enough to help others in the class so it was likely that he'd be able to help him.

Keith's phone vibrating in his hand pulls him from his thoughts.

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ ANYWAYS, you mentioned the plot. We already decided to make the Principal and Vice-Principal the antagonists, what if we added their son Lotor in it somewhere too. Except Lotor is actually pretty cool, maybe he could be like an informant or something. The one telling our characters about whatever it is that is happening. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ You're glaring at your phone aren't you lol. Yeah, that sounds good. What if we made Haggar the main villain, Zarkon is always worse whenever she's around. So we could have her like some evil witch that has taken over Zarkon, and Lotor hires our characters to deal with it? _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ You have no proof whether or not I'm glaring. Oooooh, I like it, we can work with that. Hopefully, I can around to working out an actual script/draft for it this weekend, kinda hard for you to draw a story when there is no story. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Whatever you say. Make sure to send me the script as you go so I can sketch out storyboards. _

_ To: iamRed@gmail.com _

_ Will do. Gotta go, class is almost over and I don't wanna get caught on my phone. _

_ To: iamBlue@gmail.com _

_ Same, ttyl. _

Keith slipped his phone into his pocket, looking over he could see Lance watching the teacher with his leg bouncing under the desk. Lance was usually pretty quick when leaving the room, his stuff already together, so Keith was gonna have to plan this right if he wanted to catch him.

The teacher continued on for the last few minutes, answering any questions about what he'd covered. The second the bell rang he grabbed his bag off of the floor, nearly sprinting as he went around the right side of his desk just so he could get in front of lance, cutting him off at the intersection where the rows met.

"Lance, hey. I, uh, had a question." Way to totally not sound awkward, he mentally facepalmed at the sound of his own voice.

Lance seemed taken aback by his approach, eyes going wide as he halted. "Uuuuuuh...," he cleared his throat, blinking his eyes a few times to shake out the dazed expression, "Yeah, hey, what can I help with?"

"I was wondering if you could help me next week. I'm trying to learn this song but I'm having trouble in the middle and, well, your good at guitar so I figured that maybe-"

"Yeah, I can help." Lance practically yelled, cutting him off; a sheepish smile taking over his face at his outburst. "I can definitely help you out. What song are you working on?"

Keith felt a weight lift from his shoulders he hadn't realized was there. The second he'd had the idea of asking Lance for help, he'd had a weird nervous feeling that he'd say no. "Thanks, it's Lovely by Billie Eilish. Here I can give you a copy of the sheet music." He felt giddy as he quickly swung his bag onto a nearby desk and pulled out his binder, he only had the one copy with him but he could print another when he got home.

"Wait, you like Billie Eilish? She's amazing." A wide grin split across his face taking over the sheepish one from earlier. Keith could admit it was a nice smile.

"Uh, yeah. A friend of mine introduced me to her stuff," Keith grabbed a pen before putting his stuff back in his bag. "Here this is the part I'm having trouble with," He draws an arrow in the margin pointing to the section, "I don't know if I'm playing the notes wrong or something but it doesn't sound right to me."

"Ok, I'll look over it this weekend and see if I can figure it out and help you on Monday, sound good?"

"Sounds great, thanks." Keith gave him a smile and a curt nod as he picked up his bag and began making his way to the side to let Lance pass.

Lance's face started to turn a slight shade of pink as we walked by. "Cool, cool cool. So see you Monday. Cool." And then he was gone.

Well, that saved him the trouble of getting frustrated over the weekend and he could focus on the comic. Plus Lance seemed like a cool guy, so having him to talk to during class might make things less boring.

He was slowly making his way out of the room and into the hall when the bell went off, "Shit." Slinging his bag over his shoulders, holding onto the straps tightly, he started booking it down the hall. He was already going to be late but he'd rather not be later.


End file.
